18&G 


THE 

AMERICAN  MISSION 

IN 

THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS: 

A  VINDICATION  AND  AN  APPEAL, 

IX  RELATION  TO  THE  PROCEEDINGS  OP 

THE  REFORMED  CATHOLIC  MISSION 

AT  HONOLULU. 
BY   REV.    W.    ELLIS, 

FORMERLY  MISSIONARY   IN   THE   SANDWICH   ISLANDS  ;    AND   HONORARY   MEMBER   OF  THE 
AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS   FOR   FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


HONOLULU: 

REPRINTED  FROM  THE  LONDON  EDITION,  BY  H.  M.  WHITNEY, 

1866. 


q  o  G  o  | 

Bancroft  Libnuy 


THE 

SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 


A  FEW  days  after  my  return  from  Madagascar,  I  had  the  honor  of 
meeting,  at  a  banquet  at  the  Mansion  House,  Emma,  Queen  Dowager 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  of  conversing  with  her  Majesty  and  suite 
respecting  friends  whom  I  had  known  in  her  native  land ;  and  I  have 
regretted  that  our  ungenial  climate  obliged  her  Majesty  to  leave  for  a 
season,  before  I  had  any  other  opportunity  of  expressing  the  great  pleas 
ure  which  the  occasion  afforded  me,  not  only  on  account  of  the  high  and 
just  estimation  in  which  her  Majesty  is  held,  but  also  on  account  of  the 
hospitality  and  attention  which  I  had  received  in  Hawaii  from  my  coun 
tryman,  her  honored  ancestor,  Mr.  John  Young. 

During  the  short  time  that  Queen  Emma  remained  in  England,  meet 
ings,  at  which  her  Majesty  was  present,  were  held  in  several  parts  of 
the  country  in  favor  of  the  Episcopate  and  English  Mission  recently 
sent  out  to  Honolulu.  It  is  well  that  her  Majesty  and  suite  were  able 
to  attend  these  meetings.  They  have  afforded  to  all  who  have  thus 
shared  the  privilege  of  personal  intercourse  with  the  illustrious  visitor  to 
our  country,  the  most  satisfactory  evidence  that  could  be  desired  of  the 
influence  under  which  her  character  has  been  formed,  and  the  judgment 
and  intelligence  with  which  her  education  has  been  directed. 

That  a  young,  intelligent,  and  well-educated  lady  of  highest  rank  in 
a  remote  and  comparatively  unfrequented  country,  should  desire  to  visit 
a  land  of  which  report  had,  perhaps,  often  filled  her  youthful  and  won 
dering  mind  with  visions  of  greatness  and  happiness,  especially  if  to 
that  land  she  could  in  part  trace  her  own  descent,*  is  very  natural,  and 
would  of  itself  ensure  a  most  cordial  welcome.  And  if,  in  addition  to 
these  claims  on  our  regard,  such  visitor  were  a  Christian  lady,  belong- 

*Mr.  Young,  grandfather  to  Queen  Emma,  was  born  in  Liverpool  about  the  year 
1749. 


4  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

ing  to  a  small  but  interesting  people,  who,  within  scarcely  more  than  a 
single  generation,  had  been  raised  from  a  condition  of  rude,  repulsive, 
and  sanguinary  idolatry  to  a  state  of  intelligent  refinement  and  Christian 
virtue,  of  which  she  herself  was  an  example,  her  presence  would  call 
forth  from  every  section  of  intelligent  and  Christian  society  amongst  us, 
the  kindest  affection  and  sympathy. 

Such  is  this  Christian  lady  now  amongst  us  ;  and  if  her  visit  to  Eng 
land  should  be  rendered  subservient  to  the  advancement  of  that  sacred 
work  which,  by  God's  blessing,  has  produced  this  great  change  in  her 
native  land,  and  should  afford  encouragement  to  the  honored  men  who, 
through  evil  report  and  good  report,  have  steadily  labored  on — some  of 
them  from  the  morning  of  life  to  the  evening  of  age — in  this  holy  enter 
prise,  the  satisfaction  given  by  the  visit  of  the  Queen  to  our  shores  will 
be  greatly  enhanced. 

On  the  contrary,  it  would  be  a  result  justly  and  deeply  to  be  deplored, 
if  this  visit,  through  no  intention  on  the  part  of  our  distinguished  guest, 
but  by  reason  of  the  mistakes  of  others,  should  be  made  the  occasion  of 
disturbing  the  peace  of  the  Hawaiian  churches,  of  introducing  divisions 
and  consequently  weakness  amongst  them,  as  well  as  increasing  the  dif 
ficulties  of  those  faithful  men  whose  long  and  patient  labors  for  the  good 
of  her  people,  Queen  Emma  herself  must  feel,  entitle  them  to  high  and 
grateful  esteem. 

Elements  of  disturbance  and  hindrance  to  the  peaceful  and  harmoni 
ous  progress  of  the  Gospel  have  been  unnecessarily  introduced  to  Ha 
waii  by  an  Episcopal  Mission  called  the  Reformed  Catholic  Mission. 
But  it  will  be  still  more  deplorable  if  advantage  is  taken  of  the  visit  of 
Queen  Emma  to  increase  and  persistently  extend  these  sources  of  dis 
quiet,  by  appealing  to  the  sympathy  which  her  presence  so  naturally  ex 
cites,  for  the  means  of  augmenting  the  force  of  the  Reformed  Catholic 
Mission  in  the  Sandwich  Islands.  It  seems  desirable,  therefore,  to  point 
out  to  the  supporters  of  this  and  other  Protestant  missions  the  mistakes 
which  prevail  in  relation  to  its  origin,  the  grounds  on  which  it  is  recom 
mended,  as  well  as  the  injurious  effects  which  it  is  likely  to  produce,  in 
the  hope  that  the  promoters  of  the  Mission  may  be  induced  to  reconsider 
the  course  on  which  they  have  entered  before  proceeding  further. 

If,  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  King  and  the  Queen  of  Ha 
waii,  who  have  expressed  their  decided  preference  for  the  Church  of 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  5 

England  form  of  worship,  friends  in  England  should  supply  the  means 
of  gratifying  her  Majesty's  wishes  by  the  erection  of  a  more  architectu 
rally  symmetrical  and  attractive  church  in  her  distant  island  home  than 
at  present  exists  there,  and  to  erect  a  suitable  and  durable  monument  to 
perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  the  virtues  of  her  departed  husband,  such 
exercise  of  their  munificence  would  provide  a  lasting  and  valuable  memo 
rial  of  the  generous  sympathy  of  her  friends,  which  all  Protestants  would 
regard  with  pleasure  and  approval. 

But  in  no  accounts  that  I  have  seen  of  the  meetings  held  on  behalf  of 
the  English  Episcopal  Mission  at  Honolulu,  or  in  the  publications  in 
which  its  support  has  been  advocated,  has  the  source  in  which  the 
scheme  originated  been  correctly  stated,  or  its  continuance  urged  on  ex 
isting  and  valid  grounds.  There  has  been  on  some  occasions  such  a 
commingling  of  acknowledged  facts  with  purely  fictitious  statements, 
such  entire  omission  of  some  occurrences,  and  such  a  tendency  to  mag 
nify  others,  as  to  make  it  scarcely  possible  that  those  to  whom  the  state 
ments  were  addressed  should  have  received  correct  impressions  on  the 
subject.  At  the  same  time  the  evident  love  of  right,  and  the  desire  to 
render  justice  to  all  parties  concerned,  are  on  some  occasions  so  evident 
in  the  advocacy  of  the  scheme,  as  to  warrant  the  conclusion,  that  if  the 
actual  circumstances  of  the  Hawaiians  had  been  better  known,  the  dig 
nified  and  venerable  Society  which  has  so  largely  subsidized  this  scheme, 
and  some  of  the  distinguished  individuals  who  have  given  the  move 
ment  the  just  influence  of  their  high  position,  might  have  hesitated  be 
fore  doing  so,  or  may  even  yet  deem  it  right  to  reconsider  the  true 
ground  on  which  its  claims  rest,  and  the  amount  of  support  to  which  it 
is  entitled. 

It  is  from  no  wish  to  interfere  in  matters  that  do  not  concern  me,  but 
from  a  strong  sense  of  duty  towards  the  native  Christians,  among  whom 
I  many  years  ago  resided, — to  the  faithful  men  with  whom  1  formerly 
labored,  as  well  as  to  the  supporters  of  Protestant  missions, — that  with 
every  feeling  of  good-will  towards  the  projectors  and  supporters  of  the 
Episcopate  and  Mission  in  Hawaii,  I  ask,  most  respectfully,  their  seri 
ous  attention  to  what  appear  to  me  to  be  some  of  the  great  mistakes  con 
nected  with  the  appointment  and  persistent  continuance  of  this  Mission 
to  the  Sandwich  Islands. 


Q  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

REPORTED- APPLICATIONS  FROM  THE  ISLANDS. 

The  promoters  of  the  Reformed  Catholic  Mission  affirm  that  the  rea 
sons  for  commencing  that  Mission  extend  back  over  a  period  of  nearly 
eighty  years,  and  a  sort  of  historic  and  chivalrous  charm  is  imparted  to 
the  enterprise  by  representing  the  non-compliance  of  the  Government  of 
England  with  a  series  of  applications  made  by  successive  sovereigns  of 
Hawaii  as  so  many  wrongs  inflicted  on  the  people  which  the  Church  of 
England  is  now  called  upon  to  redress.  Captain  Cook's  sanction  and 
support  of  their  idolatry,  by  permitting  their  worship  of  himself,  and  re 
ceiving  their  victims  offered  in  sacrifice — acts  demanding  unqualified 
condemnation — are  justly  described  as  one  wrong ;  the  refusal  to  send 
teachers  in  compliance  with  Kamehameha's  request,  made  nearly  twenty 
years  afterwards,  is  a  second ;  the  like  refusal  of  an  application  sent 
thirty  years  later  by  Kamehameha  II.,  and  his  subsequent  visit  to  Eng 
land,  is  then  stated ;  and  after  describing  a  conversation  between  our 
King,  George  IV.,  and  the  survivors  of  the  lamented  King  and  Queen, 
it  is  added,  "At  the  same  time  the  longing  hopes  of  an  eagerly  expectant 
people  for  God's  truth  and  ordinances  was*once  more  blasted  ;  and  his 
tory,  which  is  no  courtier,  will  set  down  the  lofty  indifference  of  George 
IV.  to  their  pious  aspirations  as  another  of  those  wrongs  done  to  the 
Hawaiian  people  for  which  England  and  its  Church  are  at  this  moment 
called  upon  to  make  reparation."* 

Whether  or  not  these  wrongs  were  ever  inflicted  we  now  proceed  to 
inquire.  In  the  "  Colonial  Church  Chronicle,"  it  is  stated  that  Vancou 
ver,  who  visited  the  Sandwich  Islands  in  1792,  when  conversing  with 
the  King,  "  remonstrated  with  him  as  to  the  folly  of  idolatry,  and  spoke 
to  him  of  the  one  true  Lord,  the  Creator,  the  Ruler,  the  Redeemer,  and 
the  Judge  of  all  mankind,"  and  adds  that  these  words  "were  not  spoken 
in  vain.  The  King's  own  mind  must  have  been  strongly  impressed  to 
have  prompted  the  request,  so  earnestly  urged  by  him,  for  teachers  from 
England,  and  that  formal  cession  of  his  Kingdom  to  Great  Britain  which 
Vancouver  accepted  on  behalf  of  his  Sovereign."  After  stating  that  the 
cession  was  not  accepted,  the  writer  continues,  "  The  request  for  teach 
ers  to  be  sent  from  England  was  equally  disregarded;"  and  a  few  lines 
farther  on,  speaking  of  the  King's  death,  he  adds — seemingly  with  a 

*"  Colonial  Church  Chronicle,"  18G5,  p.  353. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  7 

view  to  show  the  influence  of  Vancouver's  words  on  his  mind — "  Kame- 
hameha,  with  no  more  real  belief  in  them  possibly  than  Socrates  had  in 
a  like  performance,  did  homage  to  the  gods,"  &c.  And  again,  when  ad 
verting  to  the  abolition  of  idolatry  by  the  successor  of  the  deceased  sov 
ereign,  it  is  observed,  "  It  is  clear  that  the  new  King  and  the  old  high 
priest  perfectly  understood  one  another  ;  that  their  conversation  touch 
ing  the  idols,  which  is  on  record,  had  not  for  its  object  to  draw  out  each 
other's  mind,  but  to  shift  the  burden  of  the  first  decisive  avowal  from  the 
one  to  the  other.  The  hope  of  getting  teachers  from  England  had  never 
been  abandoned.  It  was  the  religion  of  England  to  be  brought  from 
England  by  the  long-promised  teachers  that  all  along  fed  the  national 
expectation.  The  Hawaiians  were  looking  with  an  eager  eye  for  'the 
Church  of  the  future,'  to  be  sent  to  them,  according  to  Vancouver's  en 
gagement,  from  England."* 

Inferences,  conclusions,  revelations  of  the  state  of  mind,  &c.,  among 
the  people,  more  or  less  connected  with  these  quotations,  which  occupy 
a  number  of  pages  of  this  appeal  on  behalf  of  the  Mission  published  in 
the  above-mentioned  periodical,  are  all  very  interesting,  but  without  the 
slightest  reference  to  the  authority  on  which  they  are  made.  I  do  not 
say  there  is  no  authority  for  these  statements,  only  that  the  writer  does 
not  adduce  any ;  and  that  no  evidence  of  any  such  authority  has  ever 
come  under  my  notice.  But  there  is  evidence,  clear  and  strong,  which 
renders  it  highly  improbable  that  the  remonstrance,  if  offered,  produced 
any  impression  on  the  King's  mind,  or  that  Vancouver's  promise  of  teach 
ers  was  ever  made. 

Vancouver  relates  very  circumstantially,  in  the  narrative  of  his  visits 
to  Hawaii  in  1793  and  1794,  his  conversations  with  Kamehameha,  many 
of  which  related  to  the  idolatry  of  the  country,  the  pagan  rites,  and 
priests;  and  he  describes  the  worship  and  ceremonies  within  the  temple, 
some  of  which  he  attended,  and  took  part  in  the  services,!  but  he  never, 
throughout  the  whole  narrative,  makes  the  slightest  allusion  to  his  men 
tion  of  the  folly  of  idolatry,  or  of  the  worship  of  the  one  true  Lord,  &c. 

I  landed  in  April,  1822,  on  the  shore  of  Kealakeakua  Bay,  where 

*"  Colonial  Church  Chronicle,"  1865.  pp.  349-50. 

f  Vancouver  did  speak  to  the  King  and  priests  when  in  the  idol  temple  with 
them,  but  it  was  rather  in  confirmation  of  their  idolatry  than  otherwise.  He  re 
quested  that  the  oxen  and  sheep  he  had  brought  might  be  tabooed,  as  a  means  of 
preserving  them.  (Vancouver's  Voyage,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  52-3. 


8  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

Captain  Cook  was  killed,  and  in  which  Vancouver  lay  at  anchor  during 
his  stay  at  Hawaii.  I  met  Mr.  Young  the  same  day,  and  the  pleasure 
of  the  meeting  appeared  to  be  mutual.  We  were  very  frequently  to 
gether  during  the  succeeding  five  months.  We  often  spoke  of  the  state 
of  the  Hawaiians  as  well  as  of  the  people  I  had  left  in  Tahiti.  He  said 
that  when  he  heard  there  were  English  missionaries  at  Tahiti,  he  often 
wished  we  had  come  to  Hawaii  as  well.  He  also  talked  of  Vancouver's 
visit,  and  the  ship  he  helped  them  to  build ;  but  I  have  no  recollection 
nor  memorandum  of  his  ever  mentioning  Vancouver's  promise  to  send 
teachers  from  England,  which  it  seems  natural  that  he  would  have  done 
when  English  teachers  at  Tahiti  and  their  absence  from  Hawaii  were 
the  subjects  of  conversation. 

On  the  other  hand,  Vancouver's  narrative  affords  abundant  evidence 
that  the  dread  of  the  gods  exercised  the  strongest  influence  over  the 
minds  of  the  people,  and  that  the  power  of  the  priests,  if  not  supreme, 
was  next  to  that  of  the  King.  At  that  time  both  were  combined  in  one 
person,  Kamehameha  being  King  and  priest. 

The  account  of  the  cession  of  the  Islands  to  England  is  circumstan 
tially  given.  The  object  of  the  King  in  making  such  cession,  which 
was  declined  by  our  Government,  appears  to  have  been  to  secure  the 
protection  of  England  against  aggression  from  other  nations.  Several 
speeches  were  delivered  by  the  high  chiefs,  and  from  all  these  it  was 
understood  that  "  in  their  religion,  government,  and  domestic  economy, 
no  interference  was  to  take  place ;  that  Kamehameha,  the  chiefs,  and 
the  priests,  were  to  officiate  with  the  same  authority  as  before  in  their 
respective  stations,  and  that  no  alteration  in  these  particulars  was  in  any 
degree  thought  of  or  intended."* 

1  may  be  mistaken  ;  but  in  the  absence  of  all  evidence  of  any  appli 
cation  of  the  King  for  teachers  from  England,  and  in  the  face  of  the 
stipulations  in  an  act  so  important  as  the  public  formal  cession  of  their 
country,  guarding  their  religion  as  well  as  government  from  all  inter 
ference,  I  find  it  difficult  to  conceive,  without  evidence,  that  any  appli 
cation  for  teachers  was  ever  made  by  the  King,  or  any  promise  given 
by  Vancouver. 

As  there  is  at  present  so  much  reason  for  doubt  respecting  the  prom 
ise,  it  is  needless  to  say  anything  about  its  effects — about  the  Hawai- 

*  Vancouver.,  voL  iii.,  pp.  56-7. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  9 

ians  "looking  with  an  eager  eye  to  'the  Church  of  the  future'  to  be  sent 
to  them,  according  to  Vancouver's  engagement,  from  England."  But 
as  that  supposed  engagement  is  one  of  the  reasons  assigned  for  sending 
out  the  Reformed  Catholic  Mission,  it  may  be  added,  that  there  is 
mournfully  conclusive  evidence  that  Vancouver's  remonstrance,  if  ever 
uttered,  had  made  no  lasting  or  salutary  impression  on  the  King's  mind, 
and  that  he  died  a  heathen,  and  charged  his  successor  and  his  associates 
to  support  the  dark  and  terrible  idolatry  of  the  country. 

In  the  disposition  of  the  Kingdom  Kamehameha  bequeathed  to  his  son 
Liholiho  the  government  of  the  country,  but  devolved  on  him  and  on 
Kekuaokelani,*  his  first  cousin,  and  the  other  high  officers  and  priests, 
the  care  of  the  gods  and  the  support  of  the  tabu.  When  the  new  King 
meditated  the  abolition  of  the  tabu,  one  of  the  priests  said  no  evil  would 
follow  ;t  but  most  of  the  other  priests,  and  the  prince  to  whom  also  the 
support  of  the  old  religion  had  been  confided,  were  of  a  different  opinion, 
and  took  up  arms  to  avenge  the  gods.  In  the  battle  at  Kuamoo  which 
followed,  the  prince  and  his  heroic  wife  Manono  fought  and  fell  side  by 
side,  and  were  buried  in  the  same  grave. I  This  battle  destroyed  the 
idolatry  of  the  country,  the  first  step  towards  which  was  the  abolition 
of  the  tabu. 

In  appeals  made  on  behalf  of  the  Eeformed  Catholic  Mission  during 
the  past  year,§  it  is  stated  that  the  application  for  English  teachers  made 
by  the  King  through  Vancouver  was  repeated  by  his  successor  in  a  let 
ter  to  George  IV.,  sent  in  acknowledgment  of  the  present  of  a  ship  in 
1822.  I  had  arrived  at  Hawaii  with  that  ship,  had  remained  there  five 
months,  and  was  returning  for  a  very  short  time  to  the  Southern  Islands 
with  the  Captain  who  had  presented  the  ship,  and  I  was  perfectly  ac 
quainted  with  the  contents  of  the  letter,  which  was  written  the  day  be 
fore  our  departure.  That  letter  contained  no  allusion  to  any  former 
promise,  nor  application  for  teachers  from  England.  The  King  acknowl- 

*  Signifying  the  God  of  the  Heavens,  which  would  lead  to  the  inference  that  he 
was  also  a  priest. 

f  Mr.  Young,  who  accompanied  Messrs.  Tyerman  and  Bennett  and  myself  to  the 
house  at  which  the  banquet  took  place,  described  the  proceedings  in  which  the 
guests,  instead  of  appearing  to  him  to  have  expected  the  violation  of  the  tabu, 
were  struck  with  horror  and  consternation.  One  of  the  Queens,  at  least,  said  the 
King  had  informed  them  of  his  intention. 

|  An  account  of  this  battle  was  published  in  1828.  in  the  "  Tour  in  Hawaii,7"  pp. 
103-10,  and  in  the  Journal  of  Messrs.  Tyerman  and  Bennett,  vol.  i.,  p.  379. 

§  "  Tract  on  Hawaiian  Church  Mission,"  p.  3.  '•'  Colonial  Church  Chronicle,'' 
p.  352. 

2 


10  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

edged  the  receipt  of  the  present ;  announced  the  conquest  of  the  entire 
group  of  islands  by  his  father ;  their  bequest  to  himself ;  and  he  then 
begged  leave  to  place  them  under  the  protection  of  George  IV.,  express 
ing  confidence  in  his  Majesty's  wisdom  and  judgment.  The  closing 
paragraph  of  his  letter  is  as  follows  : — "  The  former  idolatrous  system 
has  been  abolished  in  these  Islands,  as  we  wish  the  Protestant  religion 
of  your  Majesty's  dominions  to  be  practiced  here.  I  hope  your  Majesty 
will  deem  it  fit  to  answer  this  as  soon  as  convenient,  and  your  Majesty's 
counsel  and  advice  will  be  thankfully  received." 

The  wish  for  an  answer  referred  not  at  all  to  the  Protestant  religion, 
which  was  then  practiced  in  the  Islands,  but  to  what  weighed  far  more 
heavily  on  the  King's  mind — the  refusal  of  England  to  accept  the  ces 
sion  of  the  Islands  made  to  Vancouver,  and  to  what  was  the  great  desire 
of  the  King,  chiefs,  and  people,  as  was  often  expressed  to  myself,  the 
guaranteed  protection  of  England,  which  the  King  in  that  letter  so  sup- 
pi  iantly  begged  from  George  IV. 

It  is  farther  asserted,  in  support  of  the  great  mistake  about  this  letter, 
that  no  answer  having  been  received  to  his  request  for  teachers,  the 
King  resolved  to  come  to  England  himself,  and  that  "  his  object  was,  as 
there  is  every  reason  to  suppose,  to  take  back  with  him  an  English 
Church  Establishment."  Here  again  there  is  no  evidence  that  this 
formed  any  part  of  the  King's  purpose  in  making  the  visit,  or  that  it  was 
ever  mentioned  by  him  while  he  lived,  or  by  his  companions  after  his 
decease.  But  there  is  evidence  that  one,  if  not  the  chief  object  sought 
by  Kamehameha  in  coming  to  England,  was  to  secure,  by  personal  ap 
plication  to  the  King  of  England,  the  protection  of  his  country  by  the 
English  Government. 

This  King  and  his  Queen  sickened  and  died  before  they  had  any  oppor 
tunity  of  stating  their  object,  or  even  seeing  the  King  of  England.  The 
chiefs  of  their  suite  afterwards  saw  his  Majesty  at  Windsor,  and  on  their 
return  to  the  Islands  reported  the  advice  which  George  IV.  had  given 
them.  Boki,  the  brother  of  the  then  regent  of  the  Kingdom,  said,  "That 
when  he  inquired  of  the  King  whether  preachers  were  good  men,  his 
Majesty  answered,  *  Yes  ;  and  they  are  men  to  make  others  good.  I 
have  always  some  of  them  by  me ;  for  chiefs  are  not  wise  like  them. 
We  in  England  were  once  like  the  people  in  your  Islands  ;  but  this 
kind  of  teachers  came,  and  taught  our  fathers  ;  and  now  you  see  what 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  H 

we  are.'  And  again,  « You  and  your  people  must  take  good  heed  to  the 
missionaries ;  for  they  were  sent  to  enlighten  you,  and  do  you  good. 
They  came  not  for  secular  purposes,  but  by  a  Divine  command  to  teach 
you  the  Word  of  God.  The  people  would  therefore  all  do  well  to  attend 
to  instruction,  and  to  forsake  stealing,  drunkenness,  war,  and  everything 
evil,  and  to  live  in  peace.'  "* 

Kekuanaoa,  the  venerable  father  of  the  present  King,  and  still  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Hawaiian  Church,  stated,  "  This  is  what  we  heard  of  the 
charge  of  King  George  :  '  .Return  to  Kamehameha  III.,  and  tell  him  I 
will  protect  his  country.  To  any  evil  from  abroad  I  will  attend.  The 
evils  within  the  country  are  not  my  concern,  but  the  evils  from  with 
out.'  "t 

With  these  chieftains  and  two  others,  the  officers  of  the  London  Mis 
sionary  Society  had  several  interviews.  The  chiefs  gave  the  strongest 
assurances  of  the  continued  support  of  their  Government  to  the  mission 
aries  then  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  added  their  request  that  another 
missionary  might  be  sent  out  with  them  to  be  my  fellow-laborer  in  Ha 
waii,  as  stated  in  the  subjoined  extract  from  a  letter  addressed  to  me, 
and  dated  "  London,  September  8th,  1824:  " 

"  The  chiefs,  Boki  in  particular,  having  expressed  a  desire  that  a  mis 
sionary  should  accompany  them  on  their  return  to  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
and  Lord  Byron,  Commander  of  H.  M.  S.  Blonde,  having  kindly  inti 
mated  his  readiness  to  take  out  a  missionary  in  that  vessel,  the  Directors, 
considering  it  desirable  that  you  should  have  a  colleague,  deemed  it 
their  duty  to  appoint  a  missionary  to  Hawaii."  It  having  at  length 
been  found  that  the  ship  was  crowded  both  as  to  persons  and  baggage, 
Mr.  Pitman,  the  missionary  appointed,  went,  afterwards  in  another  ves 
sel. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  Hawaiian  Government  was  satisfied  with  the 
Mission  already  established  in  the  country,  and  desired  it  to  be  strength 
ened  rather  than  supplanted  by  another.  The  whole  of  the  circumstances 
which  have  been  brought  under  review  seem  to  show  that  the  new  Mis 
sion  cannot  be  justified  on  the  grounds  of  any  application  to  Vancouver, 
any  letter  from  Liholiho,  his  son,  or  by  his  visit  to  this  country. 

*  Bingham's'SHistory,  quoted  in  "  North  American  Review,"  No.  Iviii.,  p.  59. 
f  Anderson's  "  Hawaiian  Islands,"  p.  62. 


12  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

It  now  remains  to  consider  the  last  application  said  to  have  been  made 
by  the  late  King,  Karnehameha  IV.  The  scheme  for  sending  out  a 
Bishop  and  Church  of  England  missionaries  did  not,  according  to  the 
evidence  we  possess,  originate  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  but  in  England. 
The  only  valid  reasons  which  I  have  seen  for  any  movement  in  this  di 
rection,  appear  to  be  the  want  of  a  clergyman  of  their  own  communion 
felt  by  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  or  of  the  Episcopalian 
Churches  of  America  residing  in  Honolulu,  and  the  wish  of  the  King, 
who  preferred  that  form  of  worship,  and  desired  that  it  should  be  intro 
duced  to  his  capital. 

It  would  have  given  pleasure  to  the  ministers  of  the  Island  churches, 
to  their  supporters  in  America,  and  to  the  friends  of  Protestant  missions 
generally,  had  these  just  and  reasonable  .desires  been  complied  with.  It 
was  all  the  applicants  asked  for.  No  desire  for  a  Bishop,  no  want  of  a 
Mission  appears,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  late  chief  Minister  of 
the  King,  to  have  been  felt  at  Honolulu,  when  this  application  from  the 
Islands  was  received.  That  application  was  in  part  officially  addressed 
to  myself. 

Early  in  the  year  I860,  I  received  two  letters,  dated  respectively  on 
the  29th  of  February  and  the  13th  of  March  of  that  year.  The  former 
of  these  was  from  Dr.  Armstrong,  President  of  the  Board  of  Public  In 
struction  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  stating  that  there  were  at  Honolulu 
a  number  of  persons  and  a  few  families,  either  members  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  or  partial  thereto,  who  had  long  desired  the  services  of  an  Epis 
copalian  minister  to  "  break  to  them  the  bread  of  life  ;  "  that  the  King 
of  Hawaii  had  directed  his  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  to  authorize 
Manly  Hopkins,  Esq.,  his  Charge  d'Affaires  in  London,  to  guarantee  to 
a  suitable  clergyman  of  the  Episcopal  Church  an  annual  salary  of  one 
thousand  dollars,  and  had  offered,  besides,  ground  for  the  site  of  a  church. 
Dr.  Armstrong  also  stated  that  he  applied  to  me  at  the  request  of  several 
Episcopalians,  who  wished  to  secure  as  their  minister  "  a  man  of  Evan 
gelical  sentiments,  respectable  talents,  and  most  exemplary  Christian 
life,"  mentioning  a  clergyman  who  had  been  recommended  to  them,  and 
whom  they  would  cordially  welcome,  at  the  same  time  communicating 
his  address,  and  pointing  out  the  steps  which  he  wished  me  to  take. 

Dr.  Armstrong  stated  that  he  applied  to  me  because  I  had  resided 
in  the  Islands,  had  been  associated  with  the  missionaries  there*  and 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  13 

knew  the  people  and  the  kind  of  clergyman  most  likely  to  do  good 
there. 

The  second  letter  was  from  the  late  R.  C.  Wyllie,  Esq.,  the  King's 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  and  to  whom  I  had  been  known  in  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  He  states  that  Dr.  Armstrong's  letter,  which  he  en 
closed,  was  on  the  subject  of  the  establishment  in  that  capital  of  an  Epis 
copal  Church  j  that  the  King  and  Queen  preferred  that  form  of  worship, 
and  the  King  believed  that  an  Episcopal  Church  there,  besides  supply 
ing  a  want  long  felt  by  many  British  and  American  families,  would  op 
erate  beneficially  in  narrowing  the  broad  antagonism  existing  between 
the  Calvinistic  and  Catholic  creeds,  and  promoting  brotherly  feeling  be 
tween  the  clergy  of  both.  He  added  that  by  the  orders  of  the  King  he 
had  written  to  Mr.  Manly  Hopkins,  who  would  communicate  to  me  what 
further  information  I  might  desire.* 

I  lost  no  time  in  waiting  on  Mr.  Hopkins,  who  appeared  surprised  at 
my  having  been  written  to ;  said  he  was  acquainted  with  the  wish  for  a 
clergyman  expressed  in  the  letters  I  had  received,  but  that  it  was  in 
tended  to  send  out  a  Bishop  accompanied  by  some  clergymen,  and  he 
handed  me  a  printed  statement  or  appeal  on  behalf  of  this  object.  I  ex 
pressed  my  regret  that  such  an  intention  had  been  formed,  and  stated 
my  opinion  that  the  object  sought  by  the  writers  of  the  letters  would  be 
more  effectually  secured  by  compliance  with  their  distinctly  expressed 
wishes. 

The  explicit  statement  of  Dr.  Armstrong  that  a  single  clergyman  was 
desired  for  Honolulu,  and  the  reference  which  he  makes  in  his  letter  to 
me  to  the  desire  of  the  Episcopalians  to  detain  among  them  one  of  two 
clergymen  who  spent  a  short  time  at  Honolulu  on  their  way  to  British 
Columbia,  accord  with  the  statement  of  Mr.  Wyllie  that  a  Church  of 
England  was  wanted  for  the  capital,  and  his  repeated  affirmation  that 
the  King  did  not  desire  the  services  of  a  Bishop.t  The  silence  of  Mr. 
Hopkins  as  to  any  application  having  been  made  for  a  Bishop  while  in 
forming  me  that  it  was  intended  to  send  one  out ;  the  statement  in  the 
paper  which  he  placed  in  my  hand,  and  the  speech  of  that  gentleman  at 
Chelmsford,  on  the  occasion  of  Queen  Emma's  visit  there,  when  he 
stated,  "It  was  thought  that  the  work  of  the  English  Church  would  fail 

*  See  Appendix  A. 

t  "Patriot,"  November  16th.  1805. 


14  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

without  an  Episcopal  head,  and  accordingly  a  Bishop  was  sent  out  from 
England,  and  three  earnest  and  zealous  clergymen  accompanied  him" — 
all  these  facts  force  upon  my  mind  the  conviction  that  no  request  for  a 
Bishop  was  included  in  the  original  application  from  the  Islands  ;  and 
that  the  request  actually  made  by  the  members  of  the  Church  of  Eng 
land  for  an  Evangelical  clergyman  has  not  been  complied  with. 

As  I  considered  that  the  settlement  of  an  Evangelical  clergyman  at 
Honolulu  would  be  a  means  of  great  good  there,  I  was  ready  to  aid  its 
accomplishment ;  but  I  never  deemed  it  desirable  to  take  any  steps  be 
yond  recommending  it.  I  placed  the  documents  which  I  had  received 
in  the  hands  of  the 'officers  of  the  Church  and  Continental  Society,  who 
communicated  with  the  Bishop  of  London  on  the  subject,  and  received 
his  lordship's  approval,  but  failed  to  engage  a  suitable  clergyman  until 
it  had  been  decided  by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  others  to  send  out  a 
Bishop ;  and  before  this  decision  was  carried  into  effect,  I  had  left  Eng 
land  for  Madagascar.  Since  my  return,  I  find  it  stated  that  the  King  of 
Hawaii  did  write  for  a  Bishop  and  clergymen  of  the  English  Church. 
But  this  seems  to  have  been 'an  after-thought,  whether  originating  in 
the  royal  mind  or  elsewhere.  Such  subsequent  application  cannot,  there 
fore,  be  regarded  as  furnishing  the  reason  why  a  Mission  was  determined 
upon  in  England,  and  a  Bishop  was  sought  for  before  it  had  been  re 
ceived.  The  fact  seems  to  be,  that  the  gentlemen  with  whom  the  scheme 
originated  viewed  the  application  for  a  single  clergyman  to  meet  an  ac 
knowledged  want  as  furnishing  an  occasion  for  establishing  an  Episco 
pate  and  commencing  a  Mission  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  took 
measures  accordingly. 

A  writer  in  the  "  Colonial  Church  Chronicle  "  states  very  circumstan 
tially,  that  "  It  was  towards  the  close  of  the  year  1859,  in  the  fifth  year 
of  his  reign,  thatJ&unehameha  IV.  addressed  to  the  Queen  of  England, 
and  through  his  Ministers  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  request 
that  a  Mission  of  the  Church  of  England  should  be  sent  out  to  Hono 
lulu."  The  writer  does  not,  however,  give  any  copy  or  extracts  of  these 
letters,  nor  the  dates  at  which  they  were  either  written  or  received.  The 
statements  respecting  these  requests  are  not  explicit.  Some  circum 
stances  connected  with  them  certainly  require  explanation.  For  instance, 
the  letters  from  the  King's  Minister  to  myself,  arrived  in  less  than  two 
months  after  their  dates  in  1860.  How  could  it  then  occur,  if  these  let- 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  15 

ters  had  been  written  in  1859,  that  towards  the  end  of  1860  his  Grace 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  remained  in  perfect  ignorance  of  any  such 
request  having  been  made  to  him  ?  In  the  meantime  an  English  jour 
nal  had  announced  that  there  was  an  idea  of  introducing  Anglicanism, 
and  if  possible  its  Episcopate,  into  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  that  an 
effort  was  being  made  by  Mr.  Manly  Hopkins,  in  concert  with  the  Soci 
ety  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  to  accomplish  this  object.  That 
announcement  being  copied  *into  a  Sandwich  Island  newspaper,  which 
was  forwarded  to  America,  the  American  Missionary  Society  wrote  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  asking  his  Grace  to  use  his  influence  to 
dissuade  the  venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  from 
extending  its  operations  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  The  following  is  the 

honored  Primate's  reply : 

"  LAMBETH  PALACE,  September  28,  1860. 

"  KEVEREND  SIR  : — In  consequence  of  the  letter  dated  3d  instant, 
which  I  had  the  honor  of  receiving  from  you,  I  have  made  inquiry  on 
the  subject  to  which  it  refers  ;  and  I  find  it  to  be  quite  true,  that  certain 
individuals  have  formed  themselves  into  a  committee,  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  advantage  of  the  proposal  of  the  King  of  Hawaii,  and  with  the 
ultimate  view  of  establishing  a  Bishop  on  the  Polynesian  Islands. 

"  The  subject  does  not  originate  with  the  Society  for  Propagating  the 
Gospel,  to  which  it  has  not  been  hitherto  proposed.  And  it  is  altogether 
untrue,  that  the  Archbishop  encourages  the  plan,  of  which,  in  fact,  he 
was  ignorant  until  your  letter  arrived. 

"  Should  an  attempt  be  made  to  connect  this  object  with  the  Society 
for  Propagating  the  Gospel,  I  shall  think  it  my  duty  to  lay  your  letter 
before  the  persons  who  chiefly  administer  its  affairs;  and  1  shall  be  truly 
sorry  if  any  circumstances  shall  occur  calculated  to  create  jealousy  be 
tween  parties  who  have  the  same  great  end  in  view — an  object  which 
would  be  counteracted  by  collision,  in  the  same  degree  as  it  may  be  pro 
moted  by  co-operation. 

"  With  high  respect  for  the  Society  to  which  you  belong,  and  much 
thankfulness  for  the  work  which  God  has  enabled  it  to  effect, 
"  I  remain,  Reverend  Sir,  your  faithful  servant, 

"J.  B.  CANTUAR. 
"  To  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions."* 

*  This  letter  is  given  in  the  interesting  and  valuable  account  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Anderson,  Foreign  Secretary  of  the  American  Missionary  Society,  entitled  "  The 


16  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

This  evidence -will  scarcely  be  impugned,  and  viewed  in  connection 
with  the  language  employed  in  justifying  the  Hawaiian  Episcopate, 
which  represents  it  as  having  originated  in  the  spontaneous  wish  of  the 
King,  it  can  scarcely  fail,  in  the  judgment  of  unprejudiced  men,  to  vitiate 
the  grounds  on  which  the  whole  scheme  has  been  reared. 

THE  LIMITED  FIELD  SUFFICIENTLY  OCCUPIED. 

If  the  evangelization  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  were  now  to  be  com 
menced,  a  Bishop  and  six  clergymen  would  not,  considering  the  claims 
of  other  parts  of  the  world,  be  a  very  disproportionally  small  staff  of  la 
borers  for  a  beginning  in  so  diminutive  a  field.  How  unreasonably  ex 
cessive  then  must  such  a  number  of  additional  missionaries  be  under 
existing  circumstances ! 

But  this  small  field  has  been  long  and  ably  occupied  by  agents  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions — a  Missionary 
Society  organized  at  first  chiefly  among  the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  in  the  New  England  States,  but  now  receiving  voluntary  sup 
port  from  Christians  in  thirty-seven  States  of  the  Union,  and  governed 
by  a  Board  of  Members  residing  in  twenty-two  of  these  States.  This 
Society  sent  out  in  1819  a  well-appointed  Mission  comprising,  beside? 
liberally  educated  clergymen  accredited  by  the  authorities  of  the  churches 
to  which  they  belonged,  a  physician,  assistants,  and  school-masters,  a 
printer  and  press,  and  an  agriculturist.  A  second  band,  sent  out  a  year 
or  two  afterwards,  increased  the  number  of  ordained  and  equally  well- 
qualified  clergymen,  and  added  a  superintendent  of  secular  affairs  to  the 
Mission. 

I  knew  these  men,  some  of  whom  still  continue  in  the  field.  My 
knowledge  of  them  extends  over  more  than  forty  years.  I  lived  and  la 
bored  with  some  of  them  on  most  intimate  terms,  often  under  the  same 
roof.  We  studied  the  language  together,  and  labored  unitedly  in  the 
schools,  in  preaching,  in  journeying.  I  was  associated  with  them  in 
many  of  the  new,  difficult,  and  critical  positions  in  which  a  recently 
planted  Mission  almost  invariably  finds  itself  placed,  while  feeling  its 
way  among  a  people  ignorant,  proud,  suspicious,  barbarous,  and  all  but 
nominally  heathen.  And  my  testimony  concerning  these  missionaries 

Hawaiian  Islands,  their  Progress  and  Condition,"  published  after  an  official  visit 
to  the  American  Missions  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  in  1863. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  17 

is  that,  for  the  work  they  had  undertaken,  they  were  well-qualified  men, 
worthy  of  their  training  and  of  their  ancestry.  I  often  marked  and  ad 
mired  their  unobtrusive  piety,  and  their  persevering  conscientious  atten 
tion  to  all  the  great  objects  of  their  Mission,  their  simple  style  of  living, 
the  absence  among  them  of  self-seeking  and  self-indulgence,  and  their 
self-consecration  to  their  sacred  work.  Such  were  the  first  missionaries 
to  Hawaii,  and,  according  to  all  reliable  testimony,  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  their  successors  have  been  less  qualified  for  their  work,  or 
less  entitled  to  the  esteem  of  all  good  men.  To  call  these  missionaries, 
some  of  whom  had  devoted  eight  or  nine  years  to  training  for  their 
work,  a  band  of  "  uneducated  and  narrow-minded  men,"  is  to  insult  the 
intelligent  portion  of  the  American  people,  and  to  libel  the  educational 
institutions  of  their  country;  but  it  will  inflict  no  injury  on  the  mission 
aries  in  the  estimation  of  any  who  are  acquainted  with  their  labors,  or 
capable  of  appreciating  their  worth. 

I  do  not  speak  of  these  men  as  perfect :  nothing  human  is  so.  They 
have  doubtless  their  failings  as  well  as  others,  and  are  as  liable  to  mis 
takes  in  the  prosecution  of  a  great  object.  They  have  had  to  acquire 
their  experience  under  many  difficulties;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  all 
unprejudiced  men  will  regard  their  labors  as  having  conduced,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  to  the  well-being  of  the  Hawaiians,  both  for  the  present 
life  and  for  that  which  is  to  come. 

Without  at  present  adverting  to  the  external  improvements  which  are 
visible  among  the  Hawaiians,  the  numbers  who,  notwithstanding  all  de 
fections,  have,  through  the  labors  of  these  missionaries,  become  intelli 
gent  and  earnest  Christians,  showing  their  sincerity  by  long-continued, 
irreproachable  conduct,  have  not,  in  my  opinion,  been  surpassed  in  any 
Mission  field;  while  the  extent  to  which  the  influence  of  Christianity  is 
diffused  in  different  degrees  amongst  large  portions  of  the  entire  commu 
nity  warrants  the  great  majority  of  the  Sandwich  Islanders  being  re 
garded  as,  in  the  usual  acceptation  of  the  term,  a  Christian  people. 

It  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  anything  else  than  want  of  accurate  ac 
quaintance  with  the  extent  to  which  Christianity  prevailed  among  the 
Sandwich  Islanders,  could  have  allowed  a  number  of  distinguished 
Christian  gentlemen  to  enter  upon  such  a  work  of  supererogation  as  that 
of  sending  out  so  large  a  Mission  to  so  small  a  fieldi,  so  well  supplied 
with  Christian  ministers,  whose  labors  had  been  so  eminently  success- 
3 


Jg  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

ful.  Evidence  was  at  hand,  and  it  is  of  the  suppression,  excepting  in 
some  gratifying  instances,  of  the  testimony  in  favor  of  the  good  already 
accomplished  that  I  complain,  as  tending  to  produce  mistakes  respecting1 
the  nature  of  the  new  Mission  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  for  that  object 
does  not  seem  to  be  to  convert  the  heathen  to  Christ,  so  much  as  to  draw 
away  members  from  long-established  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
churches  to  a  section  of  the  Church  of  England. 

Many,  however,  have  been  led  to  suppose  that  there  are  still  heathen 
to  convert.  Mr.  Manly  Hopkins,  at  Chelmsford,  combating  objections 
on  account  of  the  small  population  of  the  Islands,  exclaims — "  Good 
heavens  !  seventy  thousand  not  to  be  saved  ! "  And  the  Bishop  of  Lon 
don  also  appears,  I  am  persuaded  unintentionally,  to  have  fallen  into  the 
mistake  of  supposing  that  there  are  numbers  of  heathens  in  Hawaii.  In 
a  speech  delivered  at  Wells,  on  the  occasion  of  Queen  Emma's  visit  to 
that  city,  his  lordship,  after  specifying  some  of  the  claims  of  the  Bishop 
of  Honolulu,  thus  continued  : — "  He  is  also  a  missionary  Bishop,  with 
a  great  Mission  work  to  perform.  The  accounts  show  that  there  is  great 
room  for  bringing  the  heathen  to  the  knowledge  and  the  love  of  God," 
&c.  Many  others  are  no  doubt  of  the  same  opinion.  There  is  reason 
to  believe  that  in  the  judgment  of  a  large  number  of  members  of  the 
Church  of  England,  as  well  as  of  other  communions,  the  sending  out  of 
a.  Bishop  and  three,  or,  as  is  now  proposed,  six  English  clergymen  to 
Hawaii,  can  only  be  justified  on  the  supposition  that  there  is  a  large 
heathen  or  non-Christian  population,  which  the  American  missionaries 
have  failed  to  bring  under  Christian  instruction,  or  who  have  relapsed 
into  heathenism.  But  that  such  opinion  is  well  founded,  there  is  no  re 
liable  evidence. 

Bishop  Staley  has  put  forward  the  statement  that  there  are  more  than 
20,000  unevangelized  natives  in  the  Islands,  and  this  statement  has  been 
accepted  as  one  of  the  chief  grounds  on  which  the  scheme  has  been  ad 
vocated.  Bishop  Staley  quotes,  as  his  authority,  a  local  newspaper 
which  gives  the  following  statement : 

68,000  Hawaiians  (the  whole  population.) 

20,000  professing  Protestants. 

20,000  Romanists. 
3,000  Mormons. 

25,000  unconnected  with  any  creed.* 

*  Bishop  Stalcy's  Journal,  p.  47. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  19 

The  amount  of  the  whole  population  as  here  given  is  correct,  but  the 
other  numbers  must  have  been  derived  from  erroneous  data.  One  or 
two  of  the  items,  however,  bear  some  resemblance  to  the  report  of  the 
division  of  the  people  in  1862,  published  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Bishop, 
and  given  in  the  "  Propaganda  Fide."  In  that  statement  the  Romanists 
are  put  down  at  23,000. 

The  heretics,  23,000. 

Infidels,  23,000* 

Evidence  is  available,  and  there  are  documents  at  hand  by  which  the 
above  statement  of  Bishop  Staley  may  be  tested  and  explained,  though 
we  may  not  be  informed  of  the  data  on  which  it  has  been  arranged. 
The  American  missionaries  publish  their  annual  reports,  which  contain 
exact  lists  of  the  numbers  of  the  Christian  Church  "  in  regular  stand 
ing  ;  "  that  is,  of  communicants  ;  stating  also  the  numbers  suspended 
from  communion,  and  the  numbers  baptized  each  year.  The  statistics 
of  each  island  and  each  missionary  district  are  given  in  detail,  and,  be 
ing  published  on  the  spot,  may  be  regarded  as  unquestionable.  Now, 
in  the  returns  for  the  year  1863,  the  number  of  communicants  was  that 
stated  above — viz,  20,000.  Any  one  acquainted  with  missions  may  cal 
culate  the  proportion  of  children  and  of  non-communicants  in  a  Mission 
comprising  20,000  communicants.  The  Annual  Report  of  the  Amer 
ican  Society  for  1865,  which  has  just  come  to  hand,  gives  the  number 
in  regular  standing  as  17,521,  adding:  "There  is  a  gradual  decrease  in 
the  numbers  of  church  members,  owing  to  the  excess  of  deaths  and  ex 
communications  above  the  admissions."  The  reduction  in  the  number 
of  church  members  has  by  no  means  kept  pace,  during  many  past  years, 
with  the  decrease  of  the  population  in  the  Islands. . 

The  missionaries,  themselves  members  of  the  Congregational  and 
Presbyterian  churches  of  America,  exercise  much  care  in  the  reception 
of  converts  from  among  the  heathen  to  the  communion  of  the  Hawaiian 
churches.  Only  those  are  admitted  who  give  evidence  of  having,  by  the 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  become  partakers  of  a  new  and  spiritual 

*  Romanist  statistics  are  not  always  reliable  in  matters  connected;  with  their  own 
adherents,  or  those  of  their  opponents.  As  the  population  has  diminished  since 
I860,  when  it  was  68.000,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  adherents  of 
the  Catholics  at  all  approximate  to  the  numbers  they  have  given,  the  figures  here 
stated  must  be  incorrect.  The  largest  number  of  adherentslto  the  Romanists  that 
I  have  seen  stated  by  any  of  the  American  missionaries  is  as  one  to  ten  of  the  Pro 
testants.  This  only  refers  to  one  province  or  island. 


20  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

life;  and  none  are  allowed  to  remain  communicants  whose  conduct  is 
not  such  as  the  New  Testament  enjoins.  Deviations  from  this  rule,  re 
peated  or  continued,  are  always,  when  known,  considered  valid  reasons 
for  exclusion  from  their  fellowship.  In  regard  to  Christian  attainments 
and  consistency  of  life,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Christians 
of  Hawaii  are,  in  these  respects,  inferior  to  the  communicants  in  other 
Mission  churches,  or  that  their  numbers  are  proportionally  fewer. 

In  the  most  prosperous  missions  the  communicants  generally  amount 
to  one  in  three.*  In  ordinary  cases  they  are  one  in  four  or  five.  Taking 
therefore  the  lowest  number  of  communicants,  that  of  last  year — viz, 
17,521 — and  supposing  those  in  "regular  standing"  to  be  one  in  three, 
though,  as  those  excommunicated  are  still  cared  for,  the  entire  number 
of  natives  under  the  care  of  the  American  missionaries,  including  com 
municants,  children,  sick  persons,  and  catechumens,  would  be  52,563  or 
60,000  in  1862,  the  year  in  which  the  Bishop  and  clergymen  arrived. 
The  decrease  of  the  communicants  from  deaths  and  excommunications 
has  not,  according  to  the  statements  of  the  missionaries,  kept  pace  with 
the  decrease  of  the  population.  This,  according  to  the  rate  of  decrease 
since  the  last  census — viz,  562  annually — would  reduce  the  native  pop 
ulation  in  1S65,  the  year  for  which  the  number  of  communicants  has 
been  given,  to  64,274.  Deducting  from  these  the  number  under  the 
care  of  the  American  missionaries,  there  would  remain  10,711. 

The  Catholics  state  that  they  have  18  European  priests,  12  Catechist 
brothers,  80  religious  pupils,  10  nuns,  28  decent  chapels,  30  ditto  of 
straw,  and  50  schools.  Suppose  the  number  of  their  native  adherents, 
instead  of  being  as  they  state,  23,000,  should  not  amount  to  half  that 
number,  say  only  to  10,000,  there  would  remain  71 1  souls  uncared  for ; 
but  their  spiritual  wants  would  be  amply  met  by  the  labors  of  Kev.  Mr. 
Damon,  American  chaplain  for  seamen,  who  preaches  in  English  at 
Honolulu,  and  the  clergyman  whose  services  the  friends  of  the  Church 
of  England  had  desired. 

*  Dr.  Mullens'  "  Statistical  Tables  for  India  and  Ceylon  in  1862. "  give— Native 
Christians,  153.816  ;  communicants,  30,249  ;  making  the  communicants  nearly  one 
in  five  of  the  professed  Chri&tians. 

The  American  Board  only  publish  the  numbers  of  communicants  and  average 
attendants  on  public  worship.  The  statistics  for  India  and  Ceylon  for  last  year 
give  the  number  of  communicants  as  one  in  three  to  the  average  number  of  their 
congregations  ;  and  as  a  number  of  young  children,  sick  persons  and  others  must 
always  be  absent  from  public  worship,  the  number  of  native  Christiana  must  be 
greater  than  that  above  stated.  In  the  missions  with  which  I  have  been  personally 
connected,  the  communicants  have  been  as  one  in  four  or  five  of  the  adherents  to 
Christianity. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  21 

In  the  foregoing  statement,  the  23,000  infidels  which  find  a  place  in 
the  Catholic  statistics  are  not  included,  because,  excepting  the  Mormons, 
whatever  their  numbers  may  be,  the  list  of  those  to  whom  the  .Roman 
ists  apply  this  designation,  though  not  baptized,  are,  according  to  the 
testimony  of  Dr.  Anderson,*  more  or  less  connected  with  the  Protestant 
congregations,  as  infants,  young  persons,  members  of  families,  attendants 
at  public  worship,  &c. 

There  may  be,  and  doubtless  is,  some  amount  of  superstition  still  lin 
gering  among  portions  of  the  people  in  remote  places,  where  its  most 
frequent  manifestation  is  connected  with  causes  producing  sickness,  or 
the  administering  of  native  nostrums  for  the  cure  of  disease,  as  still  pre 
vails  in  some  parts  of  our  own  country.  There  may  be  some  lingering 
heathen  belief  and  concealed  heathen  practices  in  some  places  and  at 
different  times  among  a  small  number  of  the  people ;  but  Dr.  Anderson 
states  that  "  there  is  not  a  single  avowed  heathen  "  or  known  worshiper 
of  idols  throughout  the  whole  group  of  the  Islands. 

The  selection  of  Honolulu  for  the  commencement  of  an  English  Mis 
sion  is  a  still  more  manifest  aggression  upon  an  existing  church.  The 
population  of  this  place  was,  when  the  last  census  was  taken,  14,310 — 
viz,  1,639  foreigners,  and  12,671  natives.  There  are  already  at  Hono 
lulu,  and  connected  with  the  American  Mission,  two  large  native 
churches,  one  of  them  built  of  stone,  capable  of  accommodating  2,500 
hearers.  The  number  of  communicants  connected  with  these  churches 
was  stated  in  the  returns  for  last  year  at  3,367.  Supposing  the  commu 
nicants  to  be  one  in  three  of  those  under  the  care  of  the  missionaries, 
there  are  10,101  native  Christians.  There  is  also  one  chapel  in  which 
the  services  are  in  English,  besides  a  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral.  Here 
then  there  is  ample  church  room  for  the  entire  population,  even  at  the 
most  crowded  season  of  the  year  ;  nevertheless,  at  this  place  it  is  pro 
posed  to  erect  another  cathedral,  which  is  required  neither  by  Protest 
ants  nor  Catholics,  and  which  can  only  be  filled  by  emptying  existing 
churches. 

Such  are  the  conclusions  to  which  the  only  reliable  statistics  of  the 
Islands  inevitably  lead.  The  Government  census  may  be  depended  upon 
as  correct.  The  statistics  of  the  American  Mission,  considering  the 
minuteness  and  detail  with  which  they  are  given,  the  length  of  time  dur- 

*  Anderson's  "  Hawaiian  Islands,"  p.  367. 


22  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

ing  which  they  have  been  regularly  published  year  by  year  at  the  cap 
ital,  under  the  eyes  of  the  Government,  and  open  to  the  criticism  of  the 
foreign  residents,  must  remain  unquestioned.  No  other  statistics  of  the 
religious  state  of  the  people,  whether  derived  from  the  Romanist  Bishop, 
or  copied  from  the  pages  of  a  local  newspaper,  can  be  equally  reliable. 

These  statistics  show  most  clearly,  and  beyond  all  questioning,  that, 
so  far  as  the  religious  state  of  the  people  is  concerned,  while  the  appoint 
ment  of  an  English  clergyman,  as  in  the  first  instance  solicited,  would 
have  supplied  an  acknowledged  want,  and  would  have  gratified  the  pref 
erence  of  the  Sovereign  and  his  amiable  Queen,  as  well  as  encouraged 
the  faithful  men  who  had  long  pre-occupied  the  ground,  the  sending  out 
of  an  English  Bishop  and  a  staff  of  clergymen  was  an  unnecessary  and 
unjustifiable  intrusion  upon  another  Christian  Society's  field  of  labor. 
There  is  in  fact  no  "  great  missionary  work,"  or  any  truly  missionary 
work,  at  all  for  the  Bishop  to  do,  and  he  can  gather  no  missionary  flock 
without  first  drawing  away  the  sheep  from  another  shepherd's  fold. 

REASONS  ASSIGNED  FOR  SENDING  OUT  A  NEW  MISSION  INVALID. 

To  send  forth  a  Christian  Mission  to  a  heathen  country  is  a  simple 
act  of  Christian  duty  for  which  there  is  Divine  authority  and  apostolic 
example.  It  admits  of  no  doubt,  and  allows  of  no  questioning.  But  to 
send  forth  such  a  Mission  to  a  Christian  country,  is  to  enter  upon  a  dif 
ferent  course.  For  such  a  proceeding  there  is  neither  Divine  authority, 
.nor  apostolic  example.  St.  Paul  expressly  declared  that,  in  prosecuting 
his  great  missionary  work,  he  had  striven  "  not  to  preach  the  Gospel 
where  Christ  was  named,  lest  he  should  build  upon  another  man's  foun 
dation."* 

The  promoters  of  a  Mission  to  a  people  already  Christians,  place  them 
selves  in  a  wrong  position  at  the  beginning,  excite  doubt  as  to  there  be 
ing  any  necessity  for  their  work,  and  questioning  as  to  the  end  proposed. 
If  Holy  Scripture,  the  only  true  foundation  of  the  Protestant  faith,  be 
the  basis  of  their  common  belief,  their  acknowledged  rule  of  life,  and  the 
standard  by  which  their  claim  to  discipleship  is  to  be  decided,  doubts  as 
to  the  necessity  for  such  a  Mission  must  be  greatly  strengthened. 

A  Mission  to  the  heathen  commends  itself  to  every  Christian's  ap 
proval,  and  needs  no  justification.  But  the  originators  of  a  Mission  to 

*  Rom.  xv.  20. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  23 

a  Christian  people  find  it  necessary  to  adduce  reasons  for  entering  such 
a  field,  and  evidence  that  those  reasons  are  sound.  Such  appears  to  have 
been  the  position  of  the  gentlemen  who  formed  themselves  into  a  com 
mittee  for  sending  "the  Reformed  Catholic  Mission"*  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  and  sustaining  it  there.  They  have  sent  out  the  Mission,  and 
now  find  it  necessary  to  show  that  it  was  required,  and  that  their  pro 
ceedings  are  justified. 

The  first  reason  alleged,  I  have  already  disposed  of,  by  showing  that 
the  Mission  did  not  originate  in  any  application  from  the  Kings  of  Ha 
waii,  and  was  not  required  by  a  heathen  or  non-Christian  population  in 
the  Islands,  I  proceed  to  notice  the  reasons  said  to  arise  out  of  the  sup 
posed  defective  qualifications  of  the  missionaries,  their  mismanagement, 
and  the  effects  of  their  labors. 

The  past  history  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  according  to  the  observa 
tion  of  independent  witnesses,  affords  abundant  evidence  that  the  Amer 
ican  missionaries  have  accomplished  a  great  work  in  the  evangelization 
of  these  Islands.  Few  modern  missions  have,  in  an  equally  short  period, 
been  more  successful  than  the  Hawaiian  Mission,  and  none  have  met 
with  a  larger  measure  of  misrepresentation  respecting  the  results  of  their 
labors. 

A  few,  chiefly  anonymous,  writers  in  America  have  made  injurious 
statements,  which  have  been  unhappily  adopted  in  England,  to  justify 
the  intervention  of  the  new  Mission.  Yet,  when  examined,  these  de 
preciating  statements  rest  upon  nothing  more  than  the  lamentations  of 
faithful  ministers  of  Christ  over  the  slow  progress  of  their  people  in 
Christian  attainments,  and  the  disappointment  which,  in  common  with 


*  This  is  the  name  given  to  the  Mission  at  home,  and  by  the  Bishop  in  the  Isl 
ands.  What  is  meant  is  not  apparent.  It  cannot  mean  catholic  in  charity,  as  com 
prehending  all  who  hold  the  Scriptural  doctrines  of  Protestantism,  for  these  the 
Presbyterian  and  Congregational  churches  in  America  to  which  the  missionaries 
belong  most  surely  believe  ;  yet  the  members  of  this  Reformed  Catholic  Mission 
refused  to  allow  to  the  American  missionaries  their  standing  as  clergymen  which 
is  accorded  to  them  in  their  own  country,  and  declined  to  unite  with  them  in  a 
meeting  for  prayer,  because  they  did  not  regard  "  episcopal  ordination  as  of  Divine 
appointment."  The  Americans,  much  to  their  credit,  manifested  a  readiness  to 
co-operate,  as  far  as  possible,  with  the  members  of  the  newly-arrived  Mission  ;  but 
how  their  advances  were  met  we  learn  from  Mr.  W.  D.  Alexander,  who.  in  reply 
ing  to  Bishop  Staley's  pastoral,  declares  that  "the  overbearing  and  intolerant 
spirit  which  the  Bishop  and  his  presbyters  displayed,  and  their  apparent  deter 
mination  to  ride  rough-shod  over  their  predecessors,  and  to  use  the  influence  and 
patronage  of  the  Government  to  further  their  schemes,  put  all  co-operation  out  of 
the  question/' 


24  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

missionaries  in  other  fields,  they  often  have  to  suffer,  over  the  tares  which 
everywhere  grow  with  the  wheat  in  "the  Kingdom  of  God." 

Such  unfair  representations,  grounded  on  what  are  called  the  confes 
sions  of  the  missionaries,  is  a  favorite  practice  with  men  of  the  world, 
and  with  .Romish  writers,  against  Protestant  missions,  but  is  unjustifia 
ble  in  those  who  profess  their  adherence  to  Scriptural  truth.  It  may  be 
well,  however,  to  meet  these  aspersions  by  a  brief  review  of  the  work  of 
the  Mission,  and  by  counter  testimony. 

It  is  needless  to  attempt  any  refutation  of  the  anonymous  imputations 
cast  upon  the  Mission,  often  by  men  whose  ignorance,  profligacy  and 
vice  disqualify  them  for  giving  evidence  in  such  a  case.  I  will  therefore 
only  briefly  notice  some  of  the  disparaging  statements  which  a  too  easy 
credulity  has  induced  men  of  character  and  station  to  adopt  and  repeat, 
to  the  injury  of  this  Mission. 

It  is  acknowledged  that  the  missionaries  are  earnest  and  faithful  men, 
of  pure  and  blameless  life,  that  their  creed  is  Scriptural,  and  their  labors 
abundant ;  but  they  are  charged  with  not  being  qualified  for  their  work, 
with  not  having  gained  the  affections  of  the  people,  and  having  no  hold 
on  their  hearts.  Hence,  it  is  asserted  by  the  Committee  of  the  Catholic 
Keformed  Mission,  that  "  among  their  nominal  converts  there  still  ex 
ists  a  heathen  belief,  and  heathen  practices  thinly  veiled  under  a  super 
ficial  Christianity."* 

Connected  with  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  used,  the  statement  is  evi 
dently  meant  to  convey  the  impression  that  the  religion  of  the  Hawai- 
ians  exists  on  the  surface,  and  on  the  surface  only  ;  that  it  has  no  place 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  no  hold  on  their  affections,  and  that  therefore 
it  was  necessary  to  send  them  a  different  kind  of  Christianity.  Of  the 
religion  of  the  great  body  of  the  Christians  in  Hawaii,  the  committee 
themselves  were  incapable  of  forming  a  reliable  opinion,  but  in  relation 
to  individuals  of  that  people,  they  had  evidence  which  should  have  pre 
vented  their  spreading  over  the  dioceses  of  England,  a  statement  calcu 
lated  to  produce  such  injurious  impressions  without  the  clearest  evidence 
of  their  truth. 

Queen  Emma  herself  was  a  Christian  before  the  new  missionaries  set 
foot  in  Hawaii.  Her  Majesty's  Chaplain  was  a  Christian,  was  baptized* 
was  received  to  the  Communion  of  the  Hawaiian  Church,  and  continued 

*  ';  Hawaiian  Church  Mission."  pp.  2,  3. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  25 

in  "  full  standing  "  in  that  Church  before  he  ever  saw  a  Reformed  Cath 
olic  missionary.  Is  their's,  it  may  be  asked,  only  a  surface  religion  ?  Do 
the  promoters  of  the  new  Mission  deem  it  such  ?  On  the  contrary,  the 
extent  to  which  they  have  associated  them  with  their  public  religious 
services  here  warrants  the  inference  that  they  regard  them  as  genuine 
Christians. 

As  a  few  ears  of  corn  are  a  sample  of  the  sheaves  of  the  field  from 
which  they  are  taken,  so  these  acknowledged  Christians  are  living  wit 
nesses  that  the  Christianity  of  the  Sandwich  Islanders  is  not  a  mere  sur 
face  covering,  veiling  over  a  heathen  belief  and  heathen  practices,  but 
the  deeply  rooted  religion  of  the  heart ;  and  that  the  seed  which  the  Ha 
waiian  missionaries  have  sown  in  their  hearts  is  the  good  seed  of  the 
Kingdom.  And  if,  to  continue  the  illustration,  the  field  has  long  lain 
waste,  filled  with  roots  of  rank  and  noxious  weeds  which,  springing  up, 
choke  the  good  seed  so  that  it  should  occasionally  produce  abortive 
growths,  this  would  be  no  evidence  that  all  were  such,  or  that  notwith 
standing  some  disappointment  there  might  not  still  be  a  harvest  that 
should  gladden  the  laborer's  heart,  and  that  should  be  gathered  in  at  the 
last  great  harvest  day. 

I  dismiss,  however,  the  appeal  of  the  committee  with  the  single  re 
mark  that  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  a  body  of  Christian  gentlemen, 
associated  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel,  should  have  felt  themselves  called 
upon  to  print  and  circulate  a  statement  so  calculated  to  injure  a  number 
of  faithful  laborers  in  that  same  work  without  being  sure  that  it  was 
true.  There  was  no  necessity  for  them  to  go  out  of  their  way  to  en 
deavor  to  condemn  the  work  of  the  American  missionaries  and  to  show 
that  they  had  been  unfaithful  to  their  trust.  If  they  sought  to  obtain  aid 
to  carry  on  what  they  deemed  their  own  work,  it  was  enough  to  say,  if 
they  thought  such  was  the  fact,  that  there  was  a  large  portion  of  the 
people  not  brought  under  either  Catholic  or  Protestant  instruction. 

Neither  the  King  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  nor  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  England  there,  when  they  applied  for  a  clergyman,  said  any 
thing  about  "  a  superficial  Christianity  thinly  veiling  a  heathen  faith  and 
heathen  practices."  This,  it  would  seem,  like  the  want  of  a  Bishop,  re 
mained  to  be  discovered  in  England. 

Still  greater  injustice  is  done  to  the  American  teachers  by  the  declara 
tion  that  the  moral  corruption  of  the  heathen,  aggravated  by  intercourse 
4 


26  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

with  foreigners,  had  become  more  rank  under  the  religious  system  of  the 
missionaries.  Such  a  revolting  charge  shocks  the  sense  of  justice  in  all 
upright  minds  and  carries  with  it  its  own  condemnation. 

That  a  writer  in  a  religious  periodical,  devoted  to  the  furtherance  of 
religion  in  connection  with  the  Church  of  England,  and  intended  to  be 
read  by  Christian  men,  should  tell  his  readers  that,  as  a  matter  of  his 
tory,  the  American  missionaries  "  made  hypocrites  as  fast  as  they  made 
proselytes,"  and  farther,  that  the  "  moral  corruption  of  the  natives,  ag 
gravated  by  foreigners,  became  more  rank  under  their  religious  system," 
are  statements  so  utterly  at  variance  with  every  credible  account  of  their 
labors,  that  it  must  be  doubted  whether  the  writer  believed  them  himself. 

Since  the  year  1823,  when  the  first  convert  was  baptized,  nearly 
53,000  converts*  have  been  received  into  the'  Hawaiian  churches.  To 
assert  that  more  than  1,000  false  professors  of  Christianity  have  every 
year,  for  more  than  forty  years,  been  publicly  baptized,  and  received  to 
full  standing  in  a  Protestant  Church,  the  charge  against  which  is  that 
its  discipline  is  too  strict  and  severe,  is  what  few,  if  any,  reflecting  men 
will  find  themselves  able  to  regard  in  any  other  light  than  as  an  unau 
thorized  assertion,  calculated  to  injure,  in  the  opinion  of  others,  an  ex 
emplary  and  faithful  body  of  men.  But  to  suppose,  as  any  belief  in 
these  statements  requires  us  to  do,  that  the  whole  body  of  missionaries 
in.  the  Sandwich  Islands,  to  whom  the  reports  of  accessions  to  each 
church,  or  each  district,  were  annually  submitted,  should  deceive  each 
other  and  the  native  brethren,  or  should  unite  to  deceive  the  foreign  resi 
dents  in  the  Islands  where  these  reports  were  published,  exceeds  all  or 
dinary  capacity  of  faith  to  such  an  extent  that  few  will  believe  it  can  be 
true. 

It  seems  also  impossible  for  reflecting  men  to  attach  any  credit  to  the 
assertion  that  the  missionaries  made  hypocrites  as  fast  as  they  made 
proselytes,  because  that  would  require  us  to  believe  that  during  these 
forty  years,  in  which  as  great  and  beneficial  a  change  as  had  taken  place 
among  any  heathen  people  in  the  world  had  occurred,  there  had  not  been 
among  the  fifty  thousand  proselytes  one  sincere  Christian.  Not  one 
soul  there,  whatever  its  repentance  or  faith,  or  holiness,  or  love  and 
trust  in  Christ,  and  peace  and  hope  in  passing  to  the  grave — not  one 
that  should  be  -saved. 

*  Dr.  Anderson's  "  Hawaiian  Islands,"  p.  300. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  27 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  teaches  that  outside  the  pale  of  that 
Church  none  can  be  saved,  but  no  church  that  I  have  heard  of  -teaches 
that  hypocrites  shall  be  saved,  and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  we  are 
required  to  believe  that  not  one  of  these  fifty  thousand  proselytes  could 
be  saved.  This,  it  is  true,  appeared  to  be  the  opinion  of  one  of  the 
speakers  at  Chelmsford.  The  new  Mission,  he  said,  "  Wanted  more 
money,  and  more  men ;  "  and,  in  allusion  to  objections  said,  the  first 
was  "  Why  waste  your  energies  and  money  on  seventy  thousand  peo 
ple,  and  they  ten  thousand  miles  away  ?"  He  is  reported  to  have  asked, 
"  Did  these  people  dare  to  tell  him  that  these  seventy  thousand  souls 
were  unworthy  of  any  effort  ?  "  and  to  have  closed  the  sentence  with 
the  exclamation  already  quoted,  "Good  heavens!  seventy  thousand  im 
mortal  souls  not  to  be  saved  !  " 

Mournful  indeed,  and  without  a  parallel  in  Christian  missions,  would 
be  the  result  of  forty  years  of  faithful  labor  if  this  were  true.  Happily, 
for  the  encouragement  of  the  friends  of  missions,  the  reverse  is  the  case. 
The  deaths  of  communicants  in  full  standing  during  the  forty  years  end 
ing  1863,  were  20,017,*  and  thousands  of  these  had  confessed  a  good 
confession,  had  borne  in  their  lives  what  the  Scripture  calls  the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit,!  and  had  experienced  such  a  calm  confiding  close  of  a  holy 
life  as  to  warrant  in  survivors  the  hope  that  the  departed  had  entered 
into  blessedness  and  rest.  And  there  are  many  still  living,  who,  amidst 
much  that  is  feeble  in  principle  and  defective  in  practice,  and  though 
some  at  times  may  be  overcome  by  temptation,  are  yet  striving  to  regu 
late  their  lives  by  God's  Word,  to  experience  more  of  the  love  of  Christ 
in  their  hearts,  and  to  grow  in  meetness  for  heaven.  Among  these,  and 
connected  with  the  American  Mission  Churches,  Kekuanaoa,  father  of 
the  King  and  step  father  to  Queen  Emma,  Kanoa,  Governor  of  Kauai, 
and  John  li,  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  are  living  wit 
nesses  that  the  imputation  cast  on  the  proselytes  of  the  American  mis 
sionaries  is  unfounded. 

It  is  said  that  the  missionaries  themselves  confessed  that  the  religion 
of  the  people  was  "  little  more  than  a  name."  On  this  it  may  be  suffi 
cient  to  observe  that  the  missionaries  never  stated  any  such  thing,  but 
always  the  reverse.  They  represented  their  converts  as  in  the  infancy 

*  Dr.  Anderson's  "  Hawaiian  Islands,"  p.  300. 
t  Gal.  i.  22,  23. 


28  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

of  their  moral  and  religious  life,  manifesting  all  the  feebleness  and  im 
maturity  of  such  a  state,  that  every  onward  step  was  resisted  by  the 
older  and  stronger  principles  of  evil  within  them,  in  striving  against 
which  they  often  failed  ;  but  that,  notwithstanding  this  fearful  disadvan 
tage,  there  had  always  been  a  goodly  number  who,  they  had  reason  to 
believe,  though  weak,  were  yet  sincere. 

The  missionaries  confessed  that  all  were  not  sincere;  that  there  were 
always  some  at  times,  and  for  a  season  many,  whose  religion  seemed 
little  more  than  a  name,  and  that  when  such  fell  into  sin  they  were  ex 
cluded  from  the  fellowship  of  the  church,  but  pitied,  wept  over,  pleaded 
with,  and  prayed  for,  that  they  might  repent,  forsake  sin,  and  be  re 
stored.  This  was  the  sorrow  of  the  missionary's  heart — his  cry  in  deep 
humiliation  before  God.  It  was  no  pleasure  to  him  to  publish  it  to  the 
world.  It  was  not  to  accuse  another  when  he  did  so,  but  faithfully  to 
report  the  progress  of  his  own  work,  to  excite  the  sympathy  of  others  in 
his  trials,  and  to  call  forth  their  prayers  for  himself  and  for  the  weak  and 
erring  members  of  his  flock.  These  faithful  reports  of  defects  among 
the  objects  of  his  care  ought  not  to  be  wrested  to  his  disadvantage,  but 
rather  mentioned  to  his  honor,  and  regarded  as  evidences  of  his  trust 
worthiness. 

And,  after  all,  what  do  the  defections  amount  to  ?  The  evidence  ad 
duced  by  those  who  condemn  the  Mission,  shows  that  those  who  have 
disgraced  their  Christian  character  form,  considering  the  general  state  of 
society,  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  communicants.  During  forty  years 
the  whole  number  excommunicated  were  about  8,000,  or  less  than  one 
in  seven  of  the  entire  body  of  church  members. 

The  people  have  but  recently  emerged  from  a  state  of  society  in  which 
virtue  found  no  place,  where  vice  was  honored  in  proportion  as  it  was 
unscrupulous,  revolting,  and  destructive,  and  it  had  become,  by  length 
of  time,  ingrained  into  their  very  nature.  The  newly  imbibed  faith  was 
still  weak;  Christian  principle  immature,  and  the  requirements  of  the 
new  religion  imperfectly  understood.  Temptations  were  constant  and 
common,  and  their  danger  neither  clearly  seen  nor  adequately  felt 
amongst  them,  as  compared  with  the  members  of  older  Christian  com 
munities;  and,  according  to  the  most  unquestionable  evidence  which 
can  be  adduced,  there  have  been  only  8,000  out  of  more  than  50,000 
Hawaiian  converts  who  had,  in  the  course  of  forty  years,  deviated  so  far 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  29 

from  the  required  rectitude  of  conduct  as  to  be,  by  the  severe  and  strict 
discipline  of  the  missionaries,  excluded  from  the  church. 

There  are  conditions  under  which  'the  aspect  of  religious  life  differs, 
and  seasons  in  which  its  manifestations  vary  in  kind  and  degree ;  but 
the  figures  above  given  include  the  seasons  of  greatest  decline,  as  well 
as  those  of  steadfastness,  during  forty  years.  With  this  evidence  before 
us,  we  are  constrained  to  believe  that  notwithstanding  all  just  draw 
backs,  the  American  Mission  in  Hawaii  is  no  failure,  but  may  worthily 
rank  with  the  most  prosperous  of  modern  missions. 

There  are  yet  two  other  impeachments  of  this  Mission  preferred  by 
high  dignitaries  of  the  Church  of  England,  which,  from  their  gravity,  as 
well  as  from  the  dignity  and  sacredness  of  the  position  of  those  who 
bring  them  forward,  cannot  be  overlooked.  The  Bishop  of  Oxford,  if 
the  reporters  for  the  public  journals  be  correct.*  stated  at  Salisbury, 
"  The  people  are  craving  for  your  teachers;  they  are  wearied  out  by  the 
mismanagement  of  the  American  Puritans."  And  in  another  place,  his 
lordship  is  reported  to  have  said  that  the  missionaries  "had  created 
against  themselves  the  strongest  possible  prejudice  in  this  way." 

Had  there  been  this  extreme  prejudice  against  the  American  mission 
aries,  this  weariness  of  their  mismanagement,  this  craving  for  the  Ke- 
formed  Catholic  missionaries,  it  was  naturally  to  be  supposed  that  the 
former  would  have  been  forsaken.  And  if,  as  another  advocate  of  this 
Mission  affirms,  "  it  was  the  religion  of  England,  to  be  brought  from 
England  by  the  long  promised  teachers  that  all  along  fed  the  national 
expectation  ;  "  if  the  "  Hawaiians  were  looking  with  an  eager  eye  to  the 
church  of  the  future ;  "  if  "  the  Ark  of  God  was  still  due  across  the 
waters ; "  and  if  "  all  that  was  required  was  to  see  teachers  appear," 
and  "  to  whom  all  were  prepared  to  listen  ;"t  if  these  things  were  so,, 
it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  when  tidings  of  the  arrival  of  this  ardently 
desired  boon,  which  had  "  all  along  fed  the  national  expectation,"  were 
made  known,  the  heart  of  Hawaii,  throughout  all  its  coasts,  would  have 
beat  with  unwonted  pleasure,  and  that  the  the  "  craving  "  throngs  from 
Puna  to  Kauai  would  have  hurried  to  Honolulu  to  welcome  and  to  look 
upon  the  men  by  whom  their  "  craving  "  was  to  be  appeased ;  and  that 
as  all  that  was  required  was  to  see  these  teachers,  "  to  whom  all  were 

*  "  Daily  News."  October  26th,  1865. 
t  "  Colonial  Church  Chronicle,"  p.  352. 


30  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

prepared  to  listen,"*  that  no  place  of  worship  would  have  contained  the 
multitude  that  would  have  crowded  together  to  hear  their  preaching. 

Some  such  manifestation  of  popular  feeling  would  have  been  reasona 
ble  if  the  above  statements  made  to  show  the  necessity  for  the  recently 
sent  Mission  ever  had  any  foundation.  The  Mission  was  inaugurated 
on  the  day  of  a  great  national  festival  by  a  splendid  ceremonial,  when 
the  late  King  and  his  Queen  were  confirmed.  The  people  had  also  been 
favored  with  the  opportunity  of  attending  the  ministrations  of  the  Bishop 
and  his  assistants,  and  of  seeing  the  accompaniments  of  their  worship. 
And  yet  it  appears,  on  the  authority  of  a  work  on  missions,  compiled 
by  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  published  last  year,  that 
the  number  of  communicants  in  connection  with  the  Reformed  Catholic 
Mission  was,  in  1864,  one  hundred,  and  of  attendants  on  the  ministry  of 
Bishop  Staley  and  that  of  his  three  presbyters,  seven  hundred  and  fifty.! 

But  at  Wiston  the  most  remarkable  description  of  the  people,  and  of 
the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  missionaries,  was  given.  The  Bishop 
of  Oxford  is  reported  to  have  said  : — "  These  children  of  nature,  children 
of  the  air,  children  of  the  light,  children  of  the  sun,  children  of  beauty, 
disporting  themselves  for  the  most  part  in  the  open  air,  living  in  the  ut 
most  conceivable  freedom,  taking  their  greatest  pleasure  in  the  dance, 
dancing  many  times  a  day,  dancing  almost  every  evening,  and  then  im 
agine  these  people  visited  by  the  descendants  of  the  stern  old  Puritans 
of  New  England,  if  anything,  rather  more  severe,  sour,  and  vinegar-like, 
carrying  with  them  the  iron  code  of  Connecticut,  the  most  severe  ever 
inflicted  upon  any  people  on  the  earth,  taking  peculiar  examples  from 
the  Levitical  law,  and  applying  them  to  Christian  times,  by  a  strange 
mistake,  which  pervaded  the  old  Puritan  mind,  that  Christianity  found 
its  excellence  by  a  retrogression  to  Judaism.  For  instance,  they  wrote 
it  down  in  their  code  that  if  any  father  had  a  troublesome  child  he  should 
bring  him  before  the  elders,  and  he  should  be  stoned.  These  men,  many 
of  them  good  men,  very  devout  men,  men  who  really  desired  the  salva 
tion  of  the  souls  of  these  poor  islanders,  and  came  for  that  purpose  and 
no  other,  who  gave  up  their  homes  that  they  might  come,  but  coming 
with  all  the  bias  and  severity  of  Puritan  life  to  these  children  of  nature, 
these  children  of  the  sun.  And  then  conceive  the  moral  and  social  ef« 


*  "  Colonial  Church  Chronicle,'7  p.  352. 
f  "  Missionary  Geography." 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  31 

fervescence  that  ensued.  They  were  commanded  not  to  put  away  sensu 
ality  merely,  but  all  that  was  child-like,  spiritual  and  unobjectionable  in 
their  habits,  removing  the  eternal  landmarks  between  morality  and  im 
morality,  teaching  them  that  things  innocent,  like  things  wicked,  were 
to  be  condemned.  Here  was  a  great  mistake,  arising  out  of  the  injured 
form  of  Christianity  which  they  were  desiring  to  inculcate." 

At  Leeds  his  lordship  is 'reported  in  the  same  journal*  to  have  said, 
"  The  American  missionaries  preached  not  what  we  believed  to  be  the 
completeness  of  the  Christian  system,  and  there  were  many  peculiarities 
about  their  teaching  which  were  most  distinctly  hostile  to  all  the  natural 
tendencies  of  that  peculiar  people — a  people  given  to  gaiety,  endowed 
with  a  sort  of  perpetual  youth,  and  not  capable  of  enduring  the  severity 
with  which,  from  the  most  conscientious  convictions,  their  new  teachers 
came  among  them.  The  consequence  is,  that  from  this  and  other  causes, 
they  have  not  got  hold  of  the  hearts  of  the  people." 

These  remarkable  passages  do  not  require  notice,  except  on  account 
of  their  having  been  employed  in  justification  of  the  .Reformed  Catholic 
Mission,  and  for  this  purpose  they  do  not  seem  to  be  very  appropriate. 
They  describe  the  Sandwich  Islanders  as  among  the  most  highly  favored 
of  the  human  family — "  Children  of  the  light,  children  of  the  sun,  chil 
dren  r f  beauty,"  and  as  taking  "  their  greatest  pleasure  in  the  dance, 
dancing  continually,"  a  people  of  gaiety,  endowed  with  a  sort  of  perpet 
ual  youth.  Such  a  people  would  seem  to  have  escaped  the  calamity  of 
the  Fall;  they  could  scarcely  need  the  teaching  of  any  Mission,  and 
must  have  approached  nearly  to  the  paradisaical  condition  of  mankind. 

I  have  visited,  resided,  and  traveled  in  this  country.  I  have  mingled 
with  these  people  in  the  public,  social  and  religious  engagements  of  life, 
and  neither  I  nor  my  companions  found  them  as  here  described.  Their 
personal  appearance  and  condition  are  greatly  improved,  and  so  are  their 
dress,  their  dwellings,  and  their  habits  of  social  life,  since  my  residence 
amongst  them,  which  was  the  period  referred  to,  viz :  when  the  Puritan 
missionaries  first  went  to  the  Islands.  At  that  period,  the  high  chiefs 
and  some  of  the  middle  class  exhibited  fine  and  noble  forms  of  symmetry 
and  strength,  and  at  times  wore  good  and  decent  clothing,  yet  at  times, 
even  among  the  very  highest,  the  clothing  was  nothing  more  for  the  men 
than  a  girdle  a  few  inches  wide,  and  for  the  women  a  piece  of  cloth 

*  "  Dally  News." 


32  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

wrapped  round  the  waist  and  reaching-  a  little  below  the  knees.  The 
dwellings,  especially  of  the  lower  classes,  were  low  dark  huts,  chiefly  of 
grass.  Their  filthiness  was  disgusting,  such  as  scarcely  admits  of  de 
scription  ;  and  this,  added  to  many  loathsome  diseases,  rendered  many 
of  them  the  most  pitiable,  yet  at  the  same  time,  the  most  sickening  and 
revolting  objects  which  the  eye  could  behold.  In  this  respect  they  were 
below  the  Society  Islanders,  probably  because  their  country  was  colder, 
their  means  of  living  less  abundant,  and  the  streams  of  fresh  water  for 
bathing,  comparatively  few. 

Nothing  but  a  feeling  of  compassion,  as  Mr.  Stewart  observed,  "some 
times  bordering  on  agony,"  a  desire  to  make  an  effort  to  induce  these 
people  to  rise,  a  belief  that  they,  low  as  they  were,  were  immortal,  and 
that  God's  grace  was  sufficient  for  their  entire  regeneration,  could  have 
taken  us  a  second  time  to  their  abodes,  and  to  the  companionship  of 
such  debasement  and  wretchedness.  These  feelings  were  shared  by 
us  all.  Dr.  Stewart,  who  was  stationed  on  the  island  called  Maui. 
in  his  published  journal,  referring  to  an  evening  walk  along  the 
beach,  observes : — "  The  largest  hut  I  passed  was  not  higher  than  my 
waist ;  capable  only  of  containing  a  family,  like  pigs  in  a  sty,  on  a  bed 
of  dried  grass,  filled  with  vermin.  Not  a  bush  or  shrub  was  to  be  seen 
around,  or  any  appearance  whatever  of  cultivation.  It  was  the  time  of 
their  evening  repast,  and  most  of  the  people  were  seated  on  the  ground 
eating  poi,  surrounded  by  swarms  of  flies,  and  sharing  their  food  with 
dogs,  pigs  and  ducks,  who  helped  themselves  freely  from  the  dishes  of 
their  masters."  And  again  :  "  There  are  not  a  few  of  the  manners  and 
habits  of  the  people  that  can  never  be  mentioned,  but  which  daily  and 
hourly  obtrude  themselves  on  the  observation."  These  and  other  causes 
of  disgust  and  repulsion  were  then  so  common,  "  as  to  be  without  re 
proach,  except  in  the  eyes  of  a  foreigner."  The  same  writer,  speaking 
of  fearful  diseases  prevailing  amongst  the  people,  states  that  they  "  an 
nually  consign  hundreds  to  the  grave,  and  convert  others,  while  livingr 
into  walking  sepulchres." 

This  devoted  missionary,  a  man  of  refined  mind  and  habits,  who  had 
left  a  position  of  respect  and  comfort,  thus  gives  vent  to  his  feelings  in 
connection  with  his  work  : — "  Notwithstanding  the  abominations  daily 
taking  place  around  us,  drunkenness,  adultery,  gambling,  and  theft,  de 
ceit,  treachery,  and  violence,  all  of  which  exist  throughout  the  land  to 


THE  SANDWICH   ISLAND   MISSIONS.  33 

an  almost  incredible  decree,  such  has  already  been  the  success  attend 
ing  the  efforts  at  reformation,  made  in  the  very  infancy  of  the  Mission, 
that  we  are  encouraged,  by  every  day's  observance,  with  fresh  zeal  to 
dedicate  ourselves  to  the  work  of  rescue  and  salvation.  They  are  still 
uncivilized  heathens,  living,  not  only  in  all  the  simplicity,  but  in  all  the 
vulgarity  of  untutored  nature  : — and  I  can  sincerely  say,  that  in  them 
I  see  much  that  I  love,  and  more  that  I  admire, — I  must  in  candor  add — 
and  much,  if  not  all,  that  I  abhor."  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  were  scarcely 
more  vile. 

How  far  the  condition  of  the  Sandwich  Islanders,  nearly  fifty  years 
ago,  when  the  Puritans  first  arrived  in  the  country,  resembled  the 
mental  picture  of  these  people,  which  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  sketched 
with  such  exuberance  of  metaphor  at  VViston  and  at  Leeds,  designating 
them  "  children  of  the  air,"  and  a  "  people  of  gaiety,  endowed  with  per 
petual  youth,"  the  readers  of  the  foregoing  description  of  these  same 
people  as  they  were,  by  personal  intercourse,  found  to  be,  must  decide 
for  themselves. 

That  portion  of  the  eulogiurn  on  this  people  devoted  to  tjieir  dances, 
occasions  me  extreme  regret  that  his  lordship  did  not  make  himself 
better  acquainted  with  the  character  and  practices  associated  with  their 
heathen  dances,  for  if  he  had  done  so  I  cannot  believe  that  he  would 
ever  have  given  the  slightest  sanction,  much  less  even  implied,  com 
mendation  of  practices  which,  if  not  always,  were  generally,  and  almost 
inevitably,  occasions  of  the  most  disgraceful  and  revolting  wickedness. 

Evidence  of  the  true  character  of  these  dances  was  not  far  to  seek. 
Few  readers  of  the  narratives  of  our  early  voyagers  can  be  ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  although  at  times  there  may  have  been  nothing  opposed  to 
decency,  these  dances  were  incentives  to  vice  as  well  as  occasions  for 
its  indulgence.  Vancouver,  an  authority  often  quoted  by  the  promoters 
of  the  new  Mission,  describing  one  of  these  dances,  observes  :  "  Had  the 
performance  finished  with  the  third  act,  we  should  have  retired  from, 
their  theatre  with  a  much  higher  idea  of  the  moral  tendency  of  their 
drama  than  was  conveyed  by  the  offensive  scene  exhibited  by  the  ladies 
in  the  concluding  part.  The  language  of  the  song  no  doubt  corres 
ponded  with  the  display  which  was  carried  to  a  degree  of  extravagance 
calculated  to  produce  nothing  but  disgust  even  to  the  most  licentious/'* 

*  Vancouver,  vol.  iii..  p.  ir>. 


34  T11E  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

Mr.  Stewart,  in  describing  the  effect  on  his  own  mind  of  these  dances 
taking  place  near  to  where  he  was,  states  that  "  the  sounds  of  their  rude 
music,  the  wild  notes  of  their  songs,  reached  us  even  in  the  Mission  en 
closure.  But  they  fell  on  the  heart  with  a  saddening  power,  for  we  had 
been  compelled  already,  from  our  own  observation,  as  well  as  from  the 
communications  of  others,  necessarily  to  associate  with  them  exhibitions 
of  unrivalled  licentiousness,  and  abominations  which  must  forever  re 
main  untold.  I  can  never  forget  the  impressions  made  upon  my  mind 
the  first  few  nights  after  coming  to  anchor  in  the  harbor,  while  these 
songs  and  dances  were  in  preparation  by  rehearsal  and  practice.  With 
the  gathering  darkness  of  every  evening,  thousands  of  the  natives  as 
sembled  in  a  grove  of  cocoanut  trees  near  the  ship  ;  and  the  fires  round 
which  they  danced  were  scarcely  ever  extinguished  till  the  break  of  day, 
while  the  shouts  of  revelry  and  licentiousness,  shouts  of  which  till  then 
I  had  no  conception,  and  which  are  heard  only  in  a  heathen  land,  un 
ceasingly  burst  upon  the  ear." 

I  once,  when  residing  at  Honolulu,  went  in  obedience  to  a  message 
from  the  Queen  to  a  place  where,  to  my  surprise  and  disgust,  a  sort  of 
rehearsal  of  one  of  these  dances  was  going  on,  and  almost  before  I  was 
fully  aware  of  what  it  was,  the  filthy  picture  seemed  to  be  burned  as 
with  vitriol  into  my  mind  as  I  turned  and  hurried  home  from  the  spot. 

Such  were  the  chief  part  of  the  dances  which,  if  the  Bishop  of  Ox 
ford's  description  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  be  correct,  formed  their  "chief 
occupation  and  their  greatest  pleasure."  Happily  for  the  people  it  is  not 
correct,  for  had  they  danced  many  times  in  the  day,  and  almost  every 
evening,  it  must  have  greatly  accelerated  the  already  rapid  diminution 
of  their  numbers.  There  were  some  who  danced  for  their  bread,  as 
dancers  do  with  us,  and  not  for  pleasure.  The  common  people  seldom 
danced  among  themselves,  or  for  their  own  amusement,  generally  for 
that  of  their  chiefs,  or  the  visitors  of  their  chiefs,  and  at  great  festivals. 
On  these  occasions,  with  very  rare,  if  any  exceptions,  the  dances  were 
practiced  as  stimulants  to  vice,  or  occasions  for  its  practice.  Few  dances 
took  place  in  the  day,  they  were  generally  practiced  in  the  evening,  or 
under  cover  of  the  night.  To  call  these  innocent  dances  is  to  shock  all 
sense  of  decency  and  virtue,  and  can  scarcely  be  imagined  as  arising 
from  anything  but  the  most  unaccountable  delusion. 

For  the  suppression  of  these  dances  the  missionaries  and  their  creed 


THK  .SANDWICH    ISLAND   MISSIONS.  35 

are  severely  censured.  Such  censure  every  right-minded  man  and 
woman  throughout  Christendom,  who  knows  anything  about  the  matter, 
will  consider  most  erroneously  placed,  and  will  probably  deem  the  mis 
sionaries,  if  they  did  suppress  them,  entitled  to  the  highest  praise.  It 
is,  however,  doubtful  whether  it  was  necessary  for  the  missionaries  to 
take  any  steps  towards  this  end.  So  long  as  the  chiefs  and  people  dis 
regarded  the  religious  teachings  of  the  missionaries,  the  protests  of  the 
latter  against  this  source  of  wickedness,  or  against  drunkenness,  or  any 
other  vices  which  drown  men's  souls  in  perdition,  would  have  been  ut 
terly  disregarded.  But  when  once  the  pure  and  holy  doctrines  of  the 
Gospel  entered  the  hearts  of  the  natives,  their  knowledge  of  the  power 
of  these  dances  to  excite  the  grossest  passions,  and  that  they  were  in 
tended  and  expected  to  issue  in  vice,  would  prevent  their  thinking  for  a 
moment  that  the  indwelling  of  religion  in  the  heart,  and  countenance  of 
these  dances,  much  less  participation  in  them,  could  be  deemed  compat 
ible.  They  would  themselves  prohibit  them  as  much  as  they  would 
prohibit  idol  worship,  and  would  no  more  think  of  joining  in  such  ob 
scene  proceedings  than  of  offering  human  sacrifices. 

The  revival  of  these  heathen  dances,  for  it  is  these  alone,  if  any,  that 
the  Puritans  have  suppressed, .would  outrage  the  Christian  feeling  of 
the  better  portion  of  the  community,  native  and  foreign.*  Yet  it  is  the 
cessation  of  these  that  is  so  mournfully  deplored.  Dancing  of  a  respect 
able  kind  is  not  suppressed.  A  writer  in  an  American  commercial  and 
merchants'  magazine  for  1858,  speaks  of  the  evening  polka  reunions  at 
Honolulu,  in  which  natives  and  foreigners  united  j  and  a  gentleman,  the 
son  of  a  physician,  a  near  neighbor  of  mine,  an  officer  in  the  navy,  who, 
a  few  years  ago,  was  at  home  for  awhile,  when  he  found  that  I  had  been 
at  Hawaii,  spoke  sometimes  of  the  pleasant  evenings  he  had  spent  at 
Honolulu,  where  he  had  waltzed  with  Queen  Emma,  and  seemed  to 
have  enjoyed  the  respectable  and  agreeable  society  which  he  had  met 
with  there. 

Other  assertions  said  to  have  been  made  at  Wiston,  I  may,  perhaps, 
allude  to  before  I  close ;  but  I  could  not  allow  the  suppression  of  the 
intentionally  demoralizing  heathen  dances  to  be  adduced  as  a  ground  of 

*  A  few  years  ago  the  foreigners  opened  a  theatre  at  Honolulu.  The  natives 
said  it  was  a  kind  of  hula  dancing,  and  revived  some  of  their  own,  to  the  grief  of 
the  respectable  portion  of  the  community.  The  Governor  would  not  allow  them 
anywhere  but  at  Honolulu,  and  they  have  since,  I  believe,  been  discontinued. 


36  THE  SANDWICH   ISLAND   MISSIONS. 

censure  either  of  the  missionaries  or  their  teaching  without  an  earnest 
protest. 

The  Bishop  of  Honolulu,  who  also  laments  the  discontinuance  of  the 
former  dances,  surpasses  all  others  in  the  startling  and  paradoxical  ac 
cusations  which  he  brings  against  the  deeply  injured  missionaries.  I 
select  only  two  of  these.  In  a  pastoral  address,  published  in  Honolulu 
at  the  beginning  of  the  past  year,  Bishop  Staley  prefers  the  following 
monstrously  extravagant  charge  against  them  :  "  There  was  less  of  fear 
ful  corruption  in  the  heathen,  than  in  the  Christian  days  of  the  people. 
The  change  for  the  worse,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  has  been  greatly 
aided  by  Puritanism,  working  partly  by  faulty  legislation,  partly  by  the 
religious  unreality  which  it  too  generally  fosters." 

in  the  number  of  "  Evangelical  Christendom  "  for  January  this  year, 
there  is  an  account  of  a  visit  paid  by  Bishop  Staley  to  America  ;  and 
in  his  appeal  for  men  and  money  to  assist  in  the  work,  he  is  stated  to 
have  said,  that  under  the  influence  of  the  existing  Christianity  the 
morals  of  the  people  are  to  day  "  ten  times  worse  than  they  were  under 
the  heathen  system,"  that  their  piety  is  an  "  unctuous  cant,"  and  that 
the  professors  of  this  Christianity  are  relapsing  into  "  heathenism,  sor 
cery,  and  witchcraft."  And  he  quotes  in  proof  an  expression  of  the  mis 
sionaries  which  applies  to  a  particular  locality,  as  though  it  applied  to 
a  large  community.  All  these  evils,  the  writer  adds,  are  described,  not 
as  the  result  of  a  conflict  which  human  depravity  and  long  continued 
national  vices,  aggravated  by  the  worst  sort  of  imported  temptations,  are 
waging  against  Christianity  itself,  but  as  the  natural  fruit  of  the  Con 
gregational  and  Presbyterian  Churches  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
of  New  England  and  of  all  in  the  United  States,  who  constitute  the 
American  Board.  Upon  this  plea,  Bishop  Staley  presented  himself  be 
fore  the  House  of  Bishops  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of  this  country.* 

It  may  suffice  in  adverting  to  these  depreciatory  statements  to  remark 
that  their  author  cannot  be  a  competent  witness  as  to  what  corruption 
prevailed  at  Hawaii  in  the  days  of  heathenism ;  nor  is  he  much  better 
qualified  to  testify  to  the  moral  state  of  the  people  generally  at  the  pres 
ent  time.  His  testimony  must  be  based  on  the  statements  of  others ; 
and  when  he  uttered  the  extravagant  assertion  that  there  was  less  cor 
ruption  among  the  people  when  they  were  heathen  than  at  the  present 

*  "Evangelical  Christendom.''  January.  18G6.  p.  31. 


THE  SANDWICH   ISLAND    MINIONS.  37 

time,  and  added,  "  The  change  for  the  worse,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say, 
has  been  greatly  aided  by  Puritanism,  *  *  *  and  partly  by  the  re 
ligious  unreality  which  it  too  generally  fosters,"  he  uttered  assertions 
which  were  as  unfounded  as  they  are  uncharitable. 

The  assertion  that  the  moral  corruption  of  the  people  is  worse — «!  ten 
times  worse  " — since  they  have  become  Christians  than  while  they  were 
heathen,  can  only  be  substantiated  by  witnesses  acquainted  with  the 
heathen  as  well  as  with  the  Christian  state  of  the  people,  and  these  wit 
nesses  bear  a  directly  opposite  testimony.  It  is  sufficient  at  present  to 
adduce  the  evidence  of  the  missionaries,  some  of  whom  arrived  there 
before  there  was  a  single  native  Christian  in  the  Islands,  and  have  lived 
among  the  people  for  nearly  fifty  years.  These  men  have  borne  their 
testimony  publicly  face  to  face  with  their  accusers,  before  authorities 
from  their  own  country;  and  their  testimony,  which  has  received  the 
highest  confirmation,  is  directly  contrary  to  the  accusations  preferred 
against  them. 

Charges  of  the  baneful  effects  of  their  management  and  teaching  had 
been  made,  not  by  the  natives  but  by  foreigners,  in  the  year  18^7. 

Some  months  afterwards,  a  captain  of  the  United  States  Navy  ar 
rived  at  the  Islands.  The  missionaries  demanded  a  public  investigation. 
In  the  statement  of  their  proceedings,  after  alluding  to  the  effects  of 
their  labors  in  diminishing  drunkenness, .gambling,  &c.,  they  proceed  to 
say,  "  While  we  allude  to  these  charges,  we  are  far  from  being  blind  or 
indifferent  to  the  barbarism,  fickleness,  duplicity,  neglect,  laziness,  and 
other  varied  vices  and  crimes,  which  to  some  extent  still  remain,  and 
which  are  more  or  less  visible  even  to  a  transient  visitor  ;  neither  do  we 
vindicate,  or  in  the  least  degree  offer  a  palliation  for  these  things.  We 
only  complain  and  remonstrate  against  those  illiberal  and  unmanly 
charges  by  which  the  Mission  is  made  accountable  for  the  daily  blun 
ders,  the  childish  actions,  the  long-established  customs,  and  even  the  in 
herent  depravity  of  the  people ;  and  all,  forsooth,  because  we  attempt  to 
make  them  better. 

"  If  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  Christianity,  in  which  the  Church  of 
England,  the  Church  of  Scotland,  the  Presbyterian,  and  other  churches 
in  America  are  agreed,  are  not  adapted  to  correct  the  evils  which  exist 
in  heathen  nations  ;  have  no  good  influence  to  cure  the  evils  of  the 
human  heart,  and  to  promote  virtue,  order,  and  happiness  in  society, 


33  TnE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

then  we  may  challenge  the  wisdom  of  the  world  to  devise  a  system  of 
morals,  and  to  propose  any  practicable  measures,  which  will  raise  a  sav 
age  tribe  or  a  heathen  nation  from  their  native  depravity  to  a  state  of 
civilization  and  virtuous  life. 

"  If  then  we  have  mistaken  the  grand  principles  of  reformation,  or  if 
we  have  taken  a  wrong  step,  we  will  be  grateful  to  any  man  who,  in  a 
friendly  manner,  will  inform  us  of  it.  If  we  have  spoken  or  done  evil, 
bear  witness  of  the  evil  ;  but  if  well,  why  should  we  be  smitten  ? 

"  From  those  gentlemen  who  reside,  or  occasionally  touch  at  these 
Islands,  we  ask  an  investigation  of  our  conduct.  We  do  more — we 
challenge  it. 

"  We  have  here  stated  our  whole  object,  and  also  the  means  we  use 
to  obtain  it.  We  know  that  the  cold-hearted,  the  misanthropical,  and 
the  superstitious  heathen,  will  be  opposed  to  the  former,  and  will  charge 
all  the  crimes  and  defects  which  still  remain  to  the  latter.  But  there 
are  those  around  us,  and  those  who  occasionally  visit  us  from  abroad, 
who  can  judge  candidly.  We  request  them  to  examine  the  above  state 
ments,  and  we  on  our  part  pledge  ourselves  that  if  we  may  have  a  can 
did  hearing,  with  witnesses,  we  will  substantiate  everything  which  we 
here  assert." 

In  due  course  a  public  meeting  for  investigation  took  place  at  the 
house  of  the  brother  of  the  Regent,  before  Captain  Jones  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  and  a  number  of  his  officers.  The  missionaries  and  their 
accusers  were  there,  and  the  former  engaged  to  reply  to  any  accusation 
preferred  in  writing  against  them. 

What  was  the  result  ?  No  charge  was  brought  forward  ;  no  evidence 
against  the  missionaries  was  adduced,  although  their  calumniators  sus 
tained,  according  to  the  account  of  Captain  Jones,  "  the  fourfold  rela 
tion  of  prosecutor,  witness,  jury,  and  judge!  And  yet,"  asks  Captain 
Jones,  in  his  published  account  of  this  meeting,*  "  what  was  the  issue 
of  this  great  trial  ?  The  most  perfect,  full,  complete  and  triumphant  vic 
tory  for  the  missionaries  that  could  have  been  asked  by  their  most  de 
voted  friends.  Not  one  jot  or  tittle,  not  one  iota  derogatory  to  their 
character  as  men,  or  as  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  the  strictest  order,  or 

*  Jarves'  "  History,"  p.  271.  quoted  in  "  Lectures  on  the  Past  and  Present  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  by  T.  Dwight  Hunt,  pastor,7'  and  published  in  San  Francisco, 
1853. 


THE  SANDWICH   ISLAND  MISSIONS.  39 

as  missionaries,  could  be  made  to  appear  by  the  united  efforts  of  all  who 
conspired  against  them." 

To  this  testimony  may  be  added  that  of  the  venerable  chief,  Kekua- 
naoa,  father  of  the  late  and  present  King,  and  for  many  years  past  a 
blameless  Christian.  It  was  delivered  in  the  large  stone  church  in 
Honolulu,  on  a  public  occasion  in  1841,  and  was  published  at  the  time. 
"  In  looking,"  says  the  Governor,  "  over  the  years  that  are  past,  I  see 
great  reason  to  praise  God  for  His  goodness  to  me,  and  to  all  who  are 
here  present.  I  look  back  to  the  reign  of  Kamehameha  I.,  and  around 
on  the  present  state  of  things,  and  I  say  there  is  no  being  so  great  and 
so  good  as  Jehovah,  and  there  are  no  laws  so  good  as  his."  *  *  * 
"Uncleanness  abounded  in  our  times  of  darkness.  Some  chief  men 
had  ten  wives  :  some  had  more,  and  some  had  less.  So  also  those  who 
had  property  had  many  women.  Neither  were  the  women  confined  each 
to  one  man.  The  law  of  marriage  was  then  unknown.  Untold  evils 
arose  from  this  source,  such  as  infanticide,  quarrels,  murder,  and  such 
like  things.  All  these  evils  are  not  done  away,  but  they  have  greatly 
decreased."  *  *  *  "  We  are  better  clad  than  we  used  to  be.  I 
remember  the  time  when  we  saw  only  the  kika  and  the  malo  (girdle) 
among  the  common  people.  Great,  indeed,  was  the  thieving  in  our  days 
of  ignorance.  It  was  connected  with  lying  and  robbery  in  every  quarter. 
Laziness  was  thought  to  be  honorable  ;  and  lazy  people  were  the  great 
est  favorites  with  the  chiefs.  When  a  chief  died,  there  were  dreadful 
doings.  Teeth  were  knocked  out ;  uncleanness  was  seen  everywhere 
in  open  day  ;  food  was  destroyed,  and  every  sort  of  abomination  was 
committed. 

"  I  will  now  speak  of  Liholiho's  reign.  He  made  a  law,  called  maka- 
honu,  on  the  death  of  his  father.  Great  was  our  rum-drinking,  dancing, 
singing,  stealing,  adultery  and  night-carousing  at  that  time.  Whole 
nights  were  spent  in  debauchery.  Very  good  were  all  these  things  to 
my  mind  in  those  days.  But  latterly  I  have  become  acquainted  with 
the  Word  of  God,  and  the  Law  of  God,  showing  a  better  way  than  any  1 
knew  before.  Let  us  bless  the  name  of  Jehovah  for  all  his  benefits  to  us 
and  our  nation.  Blessed  is  the  man  who  keeps  the  law  of  the  Lord." 

In  a  letter  from  the  young  King,  at  an  earlier  period,  viz.,  in  1836,  he 
had  said — "Love  to  you,  our  obliging  friends  in  America.  This  is  our 
sentiment  as  to  promoting  the  order  and  prosperity  of  these  Hawaiian 


40  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND   MISSIONS. 

Islands.  Give  us  additional  teachers,  like  the  teachers  who  dwell  in 
your  own  country."* 

In  184S,  the  "  entire  body  of  missionaries,  then  numbering  twenty- 
nine  clergymen,  all  of  them  liberally  educated,  and  twelve  intelligent 
laymen,  bore  a  united  testimony  to  the  favorable  contrast  between  the 
state  of  the  people  at  that  time,  as  compared  with  their  state  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  Mission."  I  bring  down  the  evidence  of  these  com 
petent  witnesses  to  1S83,  as  it  is  given  by  Dr.  Anderson,  who  says,  "  I 
heard  all  the  missionary  brethren  had  to  say  on  the  subject  during  the 
four  months  that  I  remained  in  the  Islands,  and  I  feel  assured  that  mul 
titudes  of  those  whom  I  had  the  happiness  to  address,  and  take  by  the 
hand,  how  low  soever  they  may  stand  on  the  scale  of  intelligence  and 
social  life,  are  to  be  numbered  with  the  people  of  God/'  *  *  *  "As 
compared  with  their  own  past — which  is  the  proper  comparison — they 
have  been  greatly  elevated."  *  *  *  "  They  were  then  naked  bar 
barians.  Lying,  drunkenness,  theft,  robbery,  were  universal.  So  was 
licentiousness,  and  it  was  shameless  in  open  day.  There  was  no  re 
straint  on  polygamy  and  polyandry.  Mothers  buried  their  infant  chil 
dren  alive,  and  children  did  the  same  with  their  aged  and  infirm 
parents."  *  *  *  "I  did  not  see  a  drunken  native  while  on  the  Isl 
ands.  Theft  and  robbery  are  less  frequent  there  than  in  the  United 
States.  We  slept  at  night  with  open  doors,  had  no  apprehension,  and 
lost  nothing.  Licentiousness  still  largely  exists  outside  the  church,  and 
is  one  of  the  easily-besetting  sins  within  it ;  but  it  now  everywhere 
shuns  the  day,  and  is  subjected  to  the  discipline  of  the  church.  IN  or  do 
mothers  any  more  bury  their  infant  children  alive,  nor  children  their 
aged  and  infirm  parents."! 

To  this  long  line  of  evidence,  which  I  believe  to  be  irrefragable,  I  add 
one  additional  testimony,  of  greater  weight  in  reference  to  the  condition 
of  the  people  in  the  days  of  heathenism,  and  equally  strong  and  clear  in 
favor  of  the  teaching  of  the  missionaries.  It  was  given  at  the  time 
when  an  Englishman  wearing,  but  disgracing  by  his  conduct,  the  uni 
form  of  our  own  country,  united  with  a  number  of  others  in  urging  the 
expulsion  of  the  missionaries,  on  the  ground  that  their  teaching  and  in 
fluence  was  fast  plunging  the  country  into  civil  war  and  bloodshed. 
The  witness  to  whom  I  now  refer,  whose  loyalty  to  this  country  through 
*  Dr.  Anderson,  p.  76.  |  Ibid.  p.  289. 


THE  SANDWICH   ISLAND  MISSIONS.  41 

forty  years  of  absence  never  failed,  who  had  been  the  most  trusted  ad 
viser  of  the  first  Kamehameha,  and  for  nine  years  Governor  of  Hawaii; 
who  was  the  grandfather  of  Queen  Emma,  and  until  his  death  exercised 
a  wise  and  beneficial  influence  over  the  counsels  of  the  Government, 
bore  the  following  straightforward  English  testimony  : — 

"  Whereas,  it  has  been  represented  by  many  persons,  that  the  labors 
of  the  missionaries  in  these  Islands  are  attended  with  evil  and  disadvan 
tage,  to  the  people,  I  hereby  most  cheerfully  give  my  testimony  to  the 
contrary.  T  am  fully  convinced  that  the  good  which  is  accomplishing, 
and  already  effected,  is  not  little.  The  great  and  radical  change  already 
made  for  the  better,  in  the  manners  and  customs  of  this  people,  has  far 
surpassed  my  most  sanguine  expectations.  During  the  forty  years  that 
I  have  resided  here,  1  have  known  thousands  of  defenseless  human  be 
ings  cruelly  massacred  in  their  exterminating  wars.  I  have  seen  multi 
tudes  of  my  fellow-beings  offered  in  sacrifice  to  their  idol  gods.  I  have 
seen  this  large  island,  once  filled  with  inhabitants,  dwindle  down  to  its 
present  numbers  through  wars  and  disease,  and  I  am  persuaded  that 
nothing  but  Christianity  can  preserve  them  from  total  extinction.  I  re 
joice  that  true  religion  is  taking  the  place  of  superstition  and  idolatry, 
that  good  morals  are  superseding  the  reign  of  crime,  and  that  a  code  of 
Christian  laws  is  about  to  take  the  place  of  tyranny  and  oppression. 
These  things  are  what  I  have  long  wished  for,  but  have  never  seen  till 
DOW.  I  thank  God  that  in  my  old  age  I  see  them,  and  humbly  trust  I 
feel  them  too."* 

The  above  testimony  was  given  at  the  close  of  1826,  by  Mr.  John 
Young.  It  is  not  even  hinted  that  the  teaching  or  the  management  of 
the  missionaries  has  changed  since  then.  Their  own  testimony  declares 
that  the  morals  of  the  people  are  better,  perhaps  inconceivably  so  to 
those  who  have  no  personal  acquaintance  with  the  deep  corruption  of 
unmitigated  heathenism  ;  and  it  will  require  something  more  than  the 
carefully  worded  affirmation  of  the  Committee  of  the  Reformed  Catholic 
Mission,  that  a  "  surface  Christianity  thinly  veils  heathen  belief  and 
heathen  practices  ;  "  the  fascinating  but  unreal  delineation  of  the  former 
condition  of  the  people  ;  or  the  "  I  hesitate  not  to  say,  that  the  morals 
of  the  people  are  to  day  ten  times  worse  than  they  were  under  the 
heathen  system,"  of  Bishop  Staley  to  invalidate  this  testimony.  With 

*  Dr.  Anderson,  p.  67. 
6 


42  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

the  above  evidence  before  them,  the  great  body  of  the  friends  of  Protest 
ant  missions  in  Europe  and  America,  will  not  believe  that  the  teaching 
of  the  American  missionaries  is  so  defective,  and  their  management  so 
disastrous,  as  to  require,  or  even  to  justify  the  attempt  to  draw  away 
the  people  from  the  teaching  of  the  Americans  to  that  of  the  Reformed 
Catholic  Bishop  and  his  missionaries. 

The  terms  by  which  Bishop  Staley  designates  the  religion  of  the  Isl 
anders  I  decline  to  repeat  or  notice.  He  speaks  of  the  faulty  legislation 
introduced  by  the  missionaries;  and  the  accusation  is  repeated  else 
where  more  than  once.  It  is  said,  "  they  made  the  grave  mistake  of 
introducing  themselves  into  the  secular  offices  of  the  Kingdom,  to  such 
an  extent  that  some  of  the  leading  men  among  them  who  had  originally 
come  there  in  a  missionary  character,  afterwards  dropped  that  character, 
merged  into  political  intriguers,  and  took  purely  secular  callings,  pro 
moting  their  aggrandizement,  instead  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ."* 

Accusations,  such  as  these,  do  not  come  very  well  from  parties  who. 
if  such  conduct  be  culpable,  have  been  themselves  much  more  so.  It 
was- long  before  any  missionary  could  be  induced  to  render  that  aid 
which  the  Government  had  vainly  sought  elsewhere ;  but  the  Bishop  of 
Honolulu,  one  of  the  accusers  of  the  missionaries,  had  been  in  the  coun 
try  but  a  very  short  time  before  he  became  a  member  of  the  King's 
Privy  Council,  and  has  since,  it  is  said,  been  made  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Public  Education,  though  still  remaining  at  the  head  of  his 
Mission.  The  Americans  ceased  to  be  connected  with  their  Mission 
before  they  engaged  in  any  business  of  the  Government.! 

The  first  instance  of  this  kind  which  occurred  was  that  of  Mr.  Rich 
ards.  The  destruction  of  the  tabu  had  swept  away  the  foundation  of 
their  former  Government ;  the  adoption  of  Christianity  rendered  Gov 
ernment  necessary.  The  rulers  wished  to  assimilate,  as  far  as  possible, 
their  proceedings  to  that  of  civilized  and  Christian  nations.  In  these 
circumstances,  they  turned  their  eyes  towards  their  teachers  for  assist 
ance.  But,  in  accordance  with  an  established  rule,  the  latter  declined 
to  act,  otherwise  than  as  they  had  always  done,  to  give  advice  wken 
asked.  The  kingdom  they  had  come  to  establish  was  not  of  this  world. 
They  therefore  referred  the  Government  to  the  United  States  for  help. 

*  "Colonial  Church  Chronicle  ''  for  September,  1865. 
t  Dwight  Hunt's  Lectures,  p.  143. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  43 

Accordingly,  in  1835,  the  King  and  chiefs  wrote  to  the  Board  of  Mis 
sions  at  Boston  to  obtain  a  suitable  person  to  become  counsellor  and 
teacher  of  political  economy  to  the  Government.  The  Board  made  every 
effort  for  this  purpose  but  failed.*  On  hearing  of  this  the  chiefs  renewed 
their  application  to  the  Mission. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Richards,  a  missionary  high  in  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  the  nation,  after  fourteen  years'  faithful  labor,  returned 
from  the  United  States,  whither  he  had  gone  to  provide  for  the  educa 
tion  of  his  children,  and  was  invited  on  his  arrival  to  become  political 
counsellor  and  teacher  to  the  King  and  chiefs.  He  had  returned  to  live 
and  die  a  humble  pastor  of  the  native  church  which  he  had  gathered 
during  former  years,  *  *  *  and  he  naturally  shrunk  from  the  task, 
but  on  the  recommendation  of  his  brethren  and  the  American  Board,! 
he  accepted  the  King's  offer,  and  entered  on  his  duties  in  1838,1  three 
years  after  the  first  application  had  been  made,  and  for  so  doing  the  Mis 
sion  is  censured  and  held  up  to  ridicule. 

In  respect  to  their  relations  to  Government,  the  nature  of  the  teaching 
of  the  missionaries  was  distinctly  set  forth  in  a  series  of  resolutions, 
adopted  June,  1838 — which  the  late  Mr.  Wyllie,  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  pronounced  "  worthy  to  be  printed  in  letters  of  gold,  and  hung 
up  in  the  House  of  Nobles."  He  also  said,  "  The  assertion  sometimes 
made  that  *  the  missionaries,  individually,  wormed  themselves  into  the 
confidence  of  the  King  and  chiefs,  in  order  to  exercise  an  influence  fa 
vorable  to  themselves  and  to  the  United  States,'  is -a  bold  and  unscru 
pulous  assertion,  without  even  a  shadow  of  truth. "§ 

I  have  now  endeavored,  to  test  the  validity  of  some  of  the  specific  ac 
cusations  against  the  American  missionaries,  which  are  assigned  as  rea 
sons  for  commencing  and  continuing  the  new  Mission.  But  these  rea 
sons  are  as  remarkable  for  their  omissions,  as  for  what  they  include. 

That  a  nation  which,  little  more  than  forty  years  ago,  was  as  ignorant 

*  Dwight  Hunt's  Lectures,  p.  143.  f  Ibid,  p.  145. 

I  In  1843  the  Islands  had  been  outrageously  seized  by  an  English  officer.  After 
their  restoration  to  the  King  by  Admiral  Thomas,  Mr.  Richards,  in  company  with 
a  native  chief,  was  sent  to  England  to  arrange  for  the  future  security  of  the  Isl 
ands.  He  was  received  with  courtesy  and  treated  with  respect  by  the  Earl  of 
Aberdeen,  and  succeeded  so  far  as  to  secure  a  convention  between  the  Govern 
ments  of  England  and  France,  mutually  guaranteeing  the  independence  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  renewing  intercourse  with  my  friend  both 
in  London  and  in  Paris.  At  his  death,  the  Government  voted  a  pension  to  his 
widow,  which  was  regularly  paid  so  long  as  she  lived. 

§  Dr.  Anderson,  p. '84. 


44  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

and  almost  as  savage 'as  the  kingdom  of  Dahomy,  should  now  have  their 
common  day  schools  spread  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  country,  giv 
ing  on  an  average,  during  a  large  portion  of  that  time,  a  good  plain  edu 
cation  to  one-sixth  of  the  population  j  having,  besides  these,  their  high 
schools,  and  their  college,  is  perhaps,  next  to  the  acceptance  of  Christi 
anity,  the  most  conclusive  evidence  of  improvement  that  any  nation  can 
give.  This  work,  in  all  its  gradations  from  the  alphabet  upwards,  the 
American  missionaries  have  accomplished.  They  have  succeeded  in  a 
manner  which,  as  I  shall  presently  show,  has  called  forth,  from  thor 
oughly  competent  witnesses,  the  highest  commendation  ;  and  yet  in  all 
the  accounts  which  1  have  seen  of  the  condition  of  the  people  among 
whom  it  is  proposed  to  place  this  new  Mission,  only  the  slightest  men 
tion  is  made  of  this  truly  great  achievement  of  the  American  teachers, 
and  that  generally  accompanied  with  disparaging  statements. 

Even  Bishop  Staley,  when  enumerating  the  perfectly  marvellous 
scholastic  attainments  of  the  late  amiable  and  truly  excellent  King,  who 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one  succeeded  to  the  throne,  after  repeating  his 
Majesty's  remark,  in  reference  to  the  translation  of  the  Bible,  that  the 
missionaries  had  "  in  their  ignorance  of  Hebrew  made  sad  mistakes," 
appears  to  have  taken  it  for  granted  that  the  King  was  perfectly  compe 
tent  to  pronounce  upon  the  missionaries'  knowledge  or  ignorance  of  He 
brew  ;  and  proceeds  to  state,  without  any  allusion  to  the  uncommon 
teaching  which  the  King  must  have  received,  that  he  could  enjoy 
"  Kingsley,  Thackeray,  Tennyson,  and  was  ever  quoting  Shakespeare, 
but  that  the  habit  of  his  mind  was  still  theological."  That  he  "  loved 
to  dwell  on  the  regularity  of  the  English  orders,  and  few  laymen  could 
vindicate,  with  the  same  ability,  every  link  in  the  chain  of  their  trans 
mission  ;  "  and  his  lordship  adds,  ."  He  wras  familiar  with  the  works  of 
Wheatley,  Palmer,  Courayer,  Percival,"  &c. ;  "  he  used  to  remark  on 
the  soundness  of  our  position  as  a  church  ;  that  of  Scripture  '  interpreted 
by  the  old  fathers  ; '  for,  he  used  to  say,  the  waters  become  purer  as  you 
approach  the  fountain." 

I  make  no  remark  upon  this  wonderful  account,  and  notice  it  only  to 
express  my  regret  that  no  word  of  commendation  is  bestowed  upon  the 
teachers  of  the  King,  for  his  Majesty  had  none  besides  these  same 
"  stern,  sour,  vinegar-like,  narrow-minded,  uneducated  Puritans." 

Any  tutor  or  tutors  in  another  land,  whose  industry  and  talent  should 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  45 

have  implanted  in  a  royal  pupil  such  ability  to  enjoy  polite  literature, 
and  yet  extend  his  studies  to  such  generally  unattractive  subjects  as  He 
brew  criticism,  the  writings  of  the  old  fathers,  and  the  tracing  of  every 
link  in  the  chain  of  the  transmission  of  the  orders  in  the  English  Church, 
would  have  been,  it  might  naturally  be  supposed,  entitled  to  the  high 
estimation  of  all  members  of  that  church ;  or,  at  least,  to  respect  and 
encouragement,  if  not  to  something  more  substantial,  instead  of  being  ac 
cused  of  having  failed  in  their  work,  and  having  this  accusation  as 
signed  as  a  reason  for  their  being  supplanted  by  their  accusers. 

There  is,  however,  one  thing  which  appears  to  me  to  be  a  discovery. 
Bishop  Staley  speaks  of  the  young  King  as  having  "  had  the  strong  re 
ligious  instincts  of  his  race,"  and  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  this  instinct 
rendered  "  the  habit  of  his  mind  theological."  I  have  no  recollection  of 
having  seen  any  strong  religious  instincts  in  the  race,  except  in  relation 
to  their  idolatry,  nor  of  having  heard  such  attributed  to  them  by  others ; 
and  if  it  be  so,  I  can  only  say  it  is  very  remarkable.  Bishop  Staley, 
however,  on  this  point,  appears  to  have  changed  his  opinion,  for  I  find 
it  stated  in  an  American  paper,*  that  in  a  document  which  his  lordship 
put  forth  before  leaving  the  Sandwich  Islands,  he  said :  "  I  am  bound 
to  record  what  is  the  result  of  my  intercourse  with  the  Hawaiians. 
They  have  anything  but  an  intelligent  acquaintance  with  Holy  Scrip 
ture.  Of  its  composite  character — of  the  times  and  circumstances  of 
the  authors,  when  they  wrote  the  various  books,  they  know  nothing. 
They  do  not  in  fact  possess  that  historical  and  common  information 
which  can  alone  render  its  perusal  profitable  and  even  safe.  No  attempt 
seems  to  have  been  made  to  teach  them  how  to  distinguish  the  human 
from  the  divine,  in  the  inspired  volume ;  eternal  principles  from  what  is 
temporary  and  incidental." 

The  editor  of  the  paper  remarks  :  "  We  call  attention  to  this  extract, 
and  claim  that  Bishop  Colenso  goes  no  further  in  his  disbelief  in  a  di 
vinely  inspired  Bible,  than  Bishop  Staley,  and,  without  amplifying,  ask 
a  careful  reading  of  the  paragraph." 

The  only  observation  I  offer,  at  present,  on  this  testimony  of  Bishop 
Staley's,  is,  that  I  cannot  perceive  how  this  and  the  statement  previously 
cited,  can  both  be  correct.  If,  as  the  Bishop  states,  religious  instincts 
were  not  an  idiosyncrasy  of  the  late  King,  but  "  peculiar  to  his  race," 

*  The  Boston  "  Congregationalist." 


46  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

they  must  have  been  shared  by  the  nation  at  large ;  and  the  intercourse 
of  the  Bishop  with  the  Hawaiians,  must  have  extended  to  the  best  edu 
cated  among  the  inhabitants  of  Honolulu,  including  the  Court,  the  mem- 
bets  of  which  received  the  same  teaching  as  the  lamented  Kamehameha 
IV.  How  is  it,  then,  for  they  are  all  Hawaiians,  that  they  do  not  pos 
sess  along  with  their  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  "historical 
and  common  information  which  can  alone  render  their  perusal  profitable, 
and  even  safe  ?  " 

Besides  the  high  attainments  of  the  late  King,  there  is  other  and  un 
objectionable  testimony  to  the  excellence  of  both  the  common  and  high 
schools  in  Hawaii.  In  relation  to  the  former,  the  united  body  of  mis 
sionaries,  in  1S65,  publicly  state  : 

"  The  schools  have  been  carried  on  with  the  usual  success  and  benefit 
to  the  Hawaiian  youth.  The  instruction  has,  as  in  times  past,  been  ele 
mentary  in  its  character,  nothing  more.  And  this,  under  God,  is  our 
joy  and  our  boast ;  not  that  we  have  founded  and  sustained  a  system 
for  supplying  a  finished  education  for  the  more  favored  few,  but  a  thor 
oughly  sound  and  inestimably  valuable  elementary  education  for  the 
masses  of  this  nation.  We  deal  with  facts,  not  with  pictures  of  the  im 
agination  ;  and  in  proof  of  the  too  little  that  we  have  heretofore  cared 
to  say  in  defense  of  the  Hawaiian  system  of  common  schools,  and  the 
much  more  that  might  have  been,  and  doubtless  ought  to  have  been  said> 
to  set  forth  its  excellent  adaptedness  to  the  end  proposed,  we  point, 
with  unfeigned  thankfulness  to  God,  and  with  an  honest  pride,  which 
we  have  no  right  to  conceal,  to  the  nation  as  it  stands  before  us  to-day. 
We  exult  in  the  thought  that  at  this  moment,  a  few  of  the  most  highly 
favored  spots  in  New  England  excepted,  not  a  nation  exists  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  so  large  a  proportion  of  whose  members  are  as  well  grounded 
in  reading,  writing,  and  common  arithmetic."* 

In  1860,  Kichard  H.  Dana,  Esq.,  a  distinguished  lawyer,  and  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Boston,  United  States,  in  a  published 
narrative  of  his  visit  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  gives  the  following  testi 
mony  to  the  character  of  the  Mission  teaching : 

"  It  is  no  small  thing  to  say  of  the  missionaries  of  the  American 
Board,  that  in  less  than  forty  years  they  have  taught  this  whole  people 
to  read  and  to  write,  to  cipher  and  to  sew.  They  have  given  them  an 

*  "American  Missionary  Herald,''  November,  1865. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  47 

alphabet,  grammar,  and  dictionary;  preserved  their  language  from  ex 
tinction;  given  it  a  literature,  and  translated  into  it  the  Bible,  and  works 
of  devotion,  science,  and  entertainment,  &c. 

"  In  every  district  are  free  schools  for  natives.  In  these  they  are 
taught  reading,  writing,  singing  by  note,  arithmetic,  grammar,  and 
geography,  by  native  teachers.  At  Lahainaluna  is  the  Normal  School 
for  natives,  where  the  best  scholars  from  the  district  schools  are  received 
and  carried  to  an  advanced  stage  of  education,  and  those  who  desire  it 
are  fitted  for  the  duties  of  teachers.  This  was  originally  a  Mission 
School,  but  is  now  partly  a  Government  institution.  Several  of  the  mis 
sionaries,  in  small  and  remote  stations,  have  schools  for  advanced  studies, 
among  which  I  visited  several  times  that  of  Mr.  Lyman,  at  Hilo,  where 
there  are  nearly  one  hundred  native  lads ;  and  all  the  under-teachers 
are  natives.  These  lads  had  an  orchestra  of  ten  or  twelve  flutes,  which 
made  very  creditable  music.  At  Honolulu  there  is  a  royal  school  for 
natives,  and  another  middle  school  for  whites  and  half-castes  ;  for  it  has 
been  found  expedient  generally  to  separate  the  races  in  education.  Both 
these  schools  are  in  excellent  condition.  But  the  special  pride  of  the 
missionary  efforts  for  education  is  the  High  School  or  College  of  Puna- 
hou.  This  was  established  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  Mis 
sion  families,  and  has  been  enlarged  to  receive  the  children  of  other  for 
eign  residents,  and  is  now  an  incorporated  college,  with  some  seventy 
scholars.  The  course  of  studies  goes  as  far  as  the  end  of  the  Sopho 
more  year  in  our  New  England  colleges,  and  is  expected  soon  to  go  far 
ther.  The  teachers  are  y6ung  men  of  the  Mission  families,  taught  first 
at  this  school,  with  educations  finished  in  the  colleges  of  New  England, 
where  they  have  taken  high  rank.  At  Williams  College  there  were  at 
one  time  five  pupils  from  this  school,  one  of  whom  was  the  first  scholar, 
and  four  of  whom  were  among  the  first  seven  scholars  of  the  year ;  and 
another  of  the  professors  at  Punahou  was  the  first  scholar  of  his  year  at 
New  Haven.  I  attended  several  recitations  at  Punahou  in  Greek, 
Latin,  and  mathematics ;  and  after  having  said  that  the  teachers  were 
leading  scholars  in  our  colleges,  and  the  pupils  mostly  children  of  the 
Mission  families,  I  need  hardly  add  that  I  advised  the  young  men  to  re 
main  there  to  the  end  of  the  course,  as  they  could  not  pass  the  Fresh 
man  and  Sophomore  years  more  profitably  elsewhere  in  my  judgment. 
The  examinations  in  Latin  and  Greek  were  particularly  thorough  in 


48  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

etymology  and  syntax.  The  Greek  was  read  both  by  the  quantity  and 
by  the  printed  accent,  and  the  teachers  were  disposed  to  follow  the  Con 
tinental  pronunciation  of  the  vowels  in  the  classic  languages,  if  that 
system  should  be  adopted  in  the  New  England  colleges." 

The  external  signs  of  improvement  in  dress,  dwellings,  and  deport 
ment,  apparent  among  a  large  portion  of  the  community,  so  unexpect 
edly  pleasing  to  an  intelligent  visitor,  who  may  remember  the  accounts 
of  Cook,  Vancouver,  and  other  early  voyagers,  must  be  ascribed  in  part 
at  least  to  the  example,  teaching  and  encouragement  of  the  American 
missionaries. 

The  substitution  for  despotism  and  oppressive  serfdom,  of  liberty,  civil 
and  religious,  defined  and  guaranteed  by  solemn  compact  between  the 
ruler  and  the  people,  is  a  benefit  which,  at  least,  the  teachings  of  the 
missionaries  must  have  predisposed  the  minds  of  rulers  to  give,  and  the 
people  to  receive.  And  although  this  great  change  has-  tended  to  re 
strain  outrage  and  vice,  has  raised  a  shield  over  virtue,  guaranteed  secu 
rity  to  person  and  property,  encouraged  enterprise,  and  favored  com 
merce,  as  well  as  all  that  distinguishes  a  civilized  from  a  savage  people, 
these  efforts  have  not  received  one  word  of  commendation,  and  have 
only  been  mentioned  to  be  ridiculed  or  condemned. 

The  foreign  gentlemen  engaged  in  commerce,  cultivation,  and  other 
departments  of  honorable  enterprise,  of  whom  there  have  always  been  a 
number,  the  example  of  their  families,  and  the  influence  of  distinguished 
and  friendly  visitors  to  the  Islands,  have  done  much  to  promote  the 
moral  improvement  and  social  progress  of  the  people,  as  well  as  to 
strengthen  the  hands  and  often  cheer  the  hearts  of  the  missionaries.  All 
honor  to  them  for  the  stand  they  have  taken  on  the  side  of  purity,  jus 
tice  and  right,  and  for  the  aid  they  have  given  to  the  cause  of  religion, 
civilization,  and  progress. 

The  history  of  the  Hawaiian  Mission  abounds  with  instances  of  per 
sons  possessing  a  good  acquaintance  with  Holy  Scriptures,  and  giving 
evidence  in  spirit  and  in  conduct  of  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  in 
fluence  of  the  grace  of  Christ,  the  word  of  Christ,  and  the  love  of  Christ 
on  their  hearts  through  a  long  series  of  years.  Kekuanaoa,  the  King's 
father,  John  li,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  who  was  a  Christian  when 
I  was  there,  and  is  a  Christian  still,  and  who,  with  thousands  of  others, 
have  given  such  satisfactory  evidence  through  a  large  portion  of  their 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  49 

lives  that  their  religion  was  a  divinely  implanted  living  principle,  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  that  they  were  sincere  Christians.  Yet  I  have  seen  no 
favorable  notice  of  this  fact,  which  has  filled  the  hearts  of  many  in  Eu 
rope  and  America  with  grateful  joy.  The  labors  of  the  American  Mis 
sion  were,  by  the  Divine  blessing,  the  means  of  the  conversion  of  the 
late  King,  who  personally  associated  with  the  American  missionaries  in 
making  known  the  Gospel  to  his  people  ;  and  there  have  been  thousands 
of  others  who,  by  means  of  their  instrumentality,  have  built,  and  who 
still  build  their  hopes  of  salvation  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  is 
the  best  evidence  that  the  American  Mission  has  been  no  failure. 

Letters,  morals,  external  improvement,  commerce,  justice,  and  even 
liberty  itself,  are  all  highly  valued  by  the  missionary,  but  his  chief  ob 
ject  is  the  conversion  of  the  soul  to  Christ.  It  is  by  the  extent  to  which 
there  is  reason  to  hope  that  this  has  been  accomplished  that  the  degree 
of  his  success  is  to  be  determined.  And  that  success  is  not  to  be  mea 
sured  by  the  standard  of  Christian  attainment  in  countries  where  Chris 
tianity  has  existed  for  centuries,  but  by  the  standard  of  the  churches  in 
apostolic  times,  and  by  Mission  churches  in  the  heathen  countries  in  the 
present  day. 

In  reference  to  the  estimation  in  which  the  missionaries  are  held,  Mr. 
Dana,  an  American  Episcopalian,  bears  the  following  testimony : 

"I  visited  among  all  classes — the  foreign  merchants,  traders,  and 
shipmasters,  foreign  and  native  officials,  and  with  the  natives,  from  the 
King  and  several  of  the  chiefs  to  the  humblest  poor,  whom  I  saw  with 
out  constraint  in  a  tour  I  made  alone  over  Hawaii,  throwing  myself 
upon  their  hospitality  in  their  huts.  I  sought  information  from  all,  for 
eign  and  native,  friendly  and  unfriendly  ;  and  the  conclusion  to  which 
I  came  is,  that  the  best  men,  and  those  who  are  best  acquainted  with 
the  history  of  things  here,  hold  in  high  esteem  the  labors  and  conduct  of 
the  missionaries."* 

Another  evidence  of  something  more  than  mere  surface  Christianity 
is,  among  the  Hawaiian  Christians,  most  satisfactory.  I  refer  to  their 
liberality  towards  benevolent  and  religious  objects.  Their  means  are 
seldom  abundant.  The  claims  which  the  progress  of  society  urge,  in 
crease  with  their  advancement ;  nevertheless,  from  the  forty  churches 

*  Mr.  R.  H.  Dana  has.  since  the  publication  of  Dr.  Anderson's  account,  expressed 
his  entire  approval  of  the  use  the  latter  has  made  of  his  testimony  in  favor  of  the 
American  missionaries. 
5 


50  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

connected  with  Mission  stations,  the  contributions  towards  objects  con 
nected  with  the  Mission,  amounted  in  1865,  to  $16,775,  or  £3,345.* 

After  these  facts  and  figures  we  are  warranted  in  saying  that  the  an 
nals  of  modem  Missions  do  not  contain  a  single  instance  of  any  body  of 
Christian  men  proposing  to  send  a  Mission  to  a  country  where  so  large 
a  proportion  of  the  people  were  able  to  read  and  write,  and  where  one- 
fourth  of  the  population  were  church  members,  and  three-fourths  more 
or  less  connected  with  Christian  congregations,  even  though  some  might 
have  relapsed,  or  the  Christian  attainments  of  the  best  might  be  inferior 
to  those  of  older  communities. 

SPECIAL  REASONS  ASSIGNED  FOR  COMMENCING  A  NEW  MISSION. 

Some  of  the  special  reasons  assigned  for  commencing  this  Mission  are 
remarkable.  They  are  not  grounded  on  the  ignorance  of  the  people,  nor 
on  their  destitution  of  teachers,  nor  the  unscriptural  character  of  the 
preaching,  for,  in  the  opinion  of  their  accusers,  it  is  too  closely  scrip 
tural.  One  charge  against  the  American  missionaries  is,  that  they  do 
not  add  something  to  what  the  Bible  teaches,  which  the  new  Mission  is 
to  supply.  This  so  called  deficiency  is  said  to  prove  that  the  Reformed 
Catholic  Mission  was  required  to  save  the  remnant  of  the  people  from 
destruction,  since  the  teaching  of  the  Puritans  has  not  sufficed  to  stop 
"  the  rapid  and  fearful  diminution  of  the  people."!  The  decrease  of 
population  since  the  discovery  by  Cook  is  a  mournful  fact,  which  no  phi 
lanthropist  can  view  without  unfeigned  sorrow.  To  ascribe  its  continued 
operation,  though  at  a  diminished  rate,  to  the  inefficiency  of  the  teach 
ing  of  the  missionaries,  when  the  influence  of  that  teaching  may  justly 
be  regarded  as  one  of  the  chief  agencies  which  Divine  Providence  has 
employed  to  save  the  race  from  annihilation,  is  wantonly  to  inflict  no 
ordinary  wrong. 

Captain  Cook's  estimate  of  the  population  of  Hawaii  was  probably  too 
high,  but  there  is  no  other  extant.  He  calculated  the  population  to  be 
400,000.  Forty-four  years  afterwards,  actual  visitation  to  the  chief  in 
habited  parts  of  the  Islands  showed  that  the  population  had  been  reduced 
to  about  130,000,  so  that  the  diminution  had  proceeded  during  that  pe 
riod  at  the  rate  of  about  65  per  cent.  For  the  next  thirty  years,  the  de- 

*  American  Society's  Report  for  1865. 

t  "Colonial  Church  Chronicle,"  p.  16,  1865. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  51 

crease,  as  shown  by  the  census  of  the  Government,  was  at  the  rate  of 
49  per  cent.  But  for  the  seven  years  before  the  last  Government  census, 
the  diminution  of  the  population  was  only  about  5  per  cent.,  and  it  is 
hoped  the  next  census  will  show  at  least  a  stationary  population.*  The 
subject  is  painfully  interesting  on  many  accounts,  but  its  discussion 
would  be  unsuitable  here  ;  and  though  an  annual  decrease  of  even  five 
in  e^ery  hundred  of  the  people  is  not  encouraging,  yet  contrasted  with 
the  decrease  during  the  thirty-three  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  Mis 
sion,  it  is  evidence  of  the  arresting  and  healing  influence  of  the  Gospel, 
which  ought  to  have  secured  the  teaching  of  the  missionaries  from  cen 
sure,  if  it  did  not  obtain  acknowledgment  and  commendation. 

I  have  endeavored  to  show  that  the  reasons  assigned  for  sending  the 
Bishop  and  the  Mission  to  Hawaii  neither  necessitated  its  appointment, 
nor  justify  the  interference  with  the  labors  of  the  American  Mission,  and 
I  have  adduced  counter  testimony  to  show  that,  instead  of  being  a  fail 
ure,  its  success  has  at  least  equalled  that  of  the  most  favored  Missions 
in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

It  has  been  charged  against  the  missionaries  that  they  have  not  re- 
strained  the  immoralities  of  the  people.  That  a  degree  of  immorality 
still  exists  is  admitted,  and  has  never  been  denied.  The  missionaries 
know,  to  their  mournful  disappointment  and  sorrow,  that  it  exists,  and 
at  some  times  and  places  more  than  at  others.  They  know  this,  and 
truthfully  report  it.  They  mourn  over  it,  and  use  every  effort  to  re 
claim  its  victims  from  ruin,  often,  by  God's  blessing,  with  success.  But 
the  existence  of  immorality  in  so  recently  organized  a  state  of  society, 
and  with  antecedents  such  as  those  of  the  Sandwich  Islanders,  is  no 
proof  of  the  failure  of  the  Mission.  As  well  might  the  crimes  and  vices 
of  our  own  country,  especially  such  as  prevail  in  our  seaports  and  large 
cities,  occasionally  in  fearful  proximity  to  our  places  of  worship,  be  ad 
duced  as  evidence  that  the  centuries  of  Christian  institutions  and  Chris 
tian  teaching  which  England  has  enjoyed,  have  failed. 

It  is  even  asserted — most  unjustly,  inconsiderately,  and  mistakenly— 
by  Bishop  Staley,  that  immorality  is  in  Hawaii  ten  times  greater  now 
than  when  the  people  were  heathen.  This  is  a  monstrously  absurd  as 
sertion.  Not  only  is  no  evidence  given  to  sustain  it,  but  in  the  nature 
of  things  it  is  impossible  that  it  should  be  so.  Those  who  malge  this 

*  Anderson's  "Hawaiian  Islands,"  p.  271. 


52  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

charge  cannot  know  what  the  immorality  of  the  heathen  state  was,  and 
those  who  do  know  cannot  declare  it.  It  cannot  be  true  ;  for  to  say 
nothing  of  Christianity,  there  are  other  counteracting  influences  in  the 
advance  of  civilization,  education,  commerce,  and  the  influx  of  respecta 
ble  foreign  families,  all  which  render  it  impossible  that  a  worse  state  of 
morals  should  exist  than  that  which  prevailed  under  the  savage,  demor 
alizing  and  brutalizing  reign  of  paganism. 

It  has  been  also  affirmed  that -the  teaching  of  the  missionaries  makes 
the  people  hypocrites,  fostering  unreality  in  religion,  and  that  they  have 
removed  "  the  eternal  landmarks  between  morality  and  immorality, 
teaching  them  that  things  innocent,  like  things  wicked,  were  to  be  con 
demned."  When  and  where,  it  may  be  asked,  have  they  done  this  ? 
Are  heathen  dances  innocent  things  ?  Is  there  no  immorality  in  the 
gambling  invariably  associated  with  their  games  ?  The  "  stern  Puri 
tanism,"  &c.,  of  former  times  in  America,  caricatured  and  needlessly 
introduced  into  this  discussion,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  -f 
for  the  missionaries  never  taught  the  things  mentioned.  Puritanism  is 
counted  an  honor  by  other  Christians  besides  the  American  missionaries; 
and  Calvinism,*  which  seems  to  be  so  offensive  to  the  impugners  of  the 
Mission,  finds  a  place  in  other  articles  of  doctrine  besides  those  of  New 
England  preachers.  It  is  perhaps  doubtful  whether  Bishop  Staley,  who 
pronounces  so  confidently  upon  the  baneful  influence  of  the  preaching 
of  the  missionaries,  ever  heard  one  of  their  sermons,  or  even  received  a 
faithful  report  of  one. 

Even  this  charge  against  the  missionaries  of  preaching  the  stern  doc 
trines  of  Puritanism  is  only  an  ancient  accusation  revived  to  meet  a 
modern  necessity — the  necessity  of  finding  a  reason  for  sending  the  new 
Mission  to  Honolulu.  This  charge  was  preferred  and  refuted  forty  years 
ago.  In  1827,  Captain  Sayre,  a  gentleman  of  intelligence  and  observa- 
tionrwho  liad  made  two  voyages  to  the  Pacific  and  visited  the  Islands 
in  both,  spent  several  weeks  on  shore,  conversed  frequently  with  the 
Governor  of  Hawaii,  took  great  pains  to  ascertain  what  was  the  char- 

*  Calvinism  needs  no  vindication  from  me.  But  in  a  recent  notice  of  the  "  Life 
of  Robertson,"  in  the  -  Theological  Review."  January,  1866.  I  find  the  subjoined 
reference  to  this  subject :  '•  Calvinism  has  had  its  heroic  age — the  age  of  the  Pil 
grim  Fathers.  It  has  a  phase  of  heroism  still,  as  many  a  bed  of  agonizing  disease 
can  testify,  in  home  and  hospital  in  England  to-day."  I  have  no  sympathy  with 
the  tenets  of  which  this  Review  is  said  to  be  an  advocate  ;  but  I  can  admire  the 
nobility  <f>f  mind  which  can  look  beyond  the  circle  within  which  its  own  religious- 
creed  is  enclosed,  and  behold  good,  and  commend  it  when  seen,  beyond  that  circle. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  53 

acter  and  conduct  of  the  missionaries,  and  his  testimony  published  on 
his  return  is,  that  their  conduct  was  "firm,  dignified,  Christian,  and 
moderate;"  and  that  instead  of,  as  had  been  stated,  "attempting  to 
force  the  darkest  and  most  dreary  parts  of  Puritan  discipline  upon  the 
simple-minded  Islanders,  they  instructed  them  in  the  plain,  simple,  prac 
tical  truths  and  principles  of  the  Gospel."* 

I  was  myself  associated  with  the  first  missionaries  in  their  preaching 
labors,  and  never  noticed  anything  contrary  to  the  doctrines  generally 
held  by  the  Evangelical  portion  of  Christendom.  We  often  conferred 
together  on  the  parls  of  Divine  revelation  most  suitable  to  the  peculiar 
state  of  the  people.  Three  points  we  felt  should  be  plainly  and  con 
stantly  set  before  them,  viz.,  the  consequences  of  sin,  the  necessity  of 
regeneration  to  salvation,  and  the  love  and  power  of  God  in  providing 
the  means  for  securing  both.  Some  of  the  missionaries  thought  that  in 
the  actual  state  of  the  people  these  truths  should  find  a  place  in  every 
address.  In  reference  to  my  own  teaching,  I  considered  that  every  ad 
dress  might  be  the  first  and  the  last  which  some  one  would  ever  hear ; 
for  there  were  often  very  aged  persons  present,  and  I  never  considered 
that  I  had  faithfully  delivered  the  Gospel  message  unless,  whatever 
might  be  my  text,  I  had  stated  as  plainly  as  I  could  that  the  wages  of 
sin  is  death,  that  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord,  and  that  he  that  believeth  shall  be  saved. 

The  teaching  of  the  other  missionaries  differed  little  from  my  own  ; 
and  I  only  state  this  as  evidence  of  what  the  teaching  of  the  missionaries 
was  at  the  close  of  1824.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  it  has 
changed  on  any  material  points  since  that  time ;  some  of  my  fellow- 
laborers  are  preachers  there  still ;  and  I  see  no  deviation  from  the  doc 
trines  then  held  in  the  books  they  have  published  at  Honolulu,  of  some 
of  which  they  have  sent  me  copies. 

The  first  book  published  by  the  missionaries,  after  the  spelling  book, 
was  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The  next  was  the  History  of  Joseph. 
Thus  far,  there  is  certainly  nothing  to  coerce  the  people  by  its  severity 
into  immorality ;  and  authentic  testimony  to  a  different  kind  of  teach 
ing  has  yet  to  be  adduced. 

*  Sag  Harbor  "Watchman,"  June  9,  1827, 


54  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

• 

THE  TEACHING  AND  PRACTICE  OF  THE  REFORMED   CATHOLIC 
MISSIONARIES  FRAUGHT  WITH  DANGER. 

Having  endeavored  to  show  that  the  new  Mission  was  not  required 
by  the  circumstances  of  the  people,  and  that  the  American  Mission  has 
been  a  remarkable  success,  I  proceed  to  consider  the  nature  of  the  rem 
edy  which  those  who  condemn  this  previously  existing  and  long-estab 
lished  Mission  would  themselves  apply.  In  addition  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tares  and  to  the  Divine  and  ever-blessed  Saviour,  the  new  Mission  pro 
poses  to  introduce  a  branch  of  the  Church  which,  according  to  the  teach 
ing  of  the  new  Mission,  claims  to  be  endowed  with  full  and  extraordinary 
apostolic  power,  and  to  constitute  the  sole  medium  through  which  the 
fullness  of  Divine  love  can  be  experienced  by  mankind.  Bishop  Staley 
states  that  the  teaching  of  his  Church  is  based  on  Scripture,  not  as  it  is 
by  itself,  and  as  it  was  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  but  as  interpreted 
by  the  Fathers  of  the  first  five  centuries.  It  is  also  stated  that  "  the 
fullness  of  God's  love,  and  the  assurance  of  Christ's  presence,  can  only 
be  tasted  through  that  one  visible  body  the  Church."  It  is  therefore  the 
branch  or  section  of  the  Church  of  England  which  teaches  these  things 
that  is  proposed  to  be  substituted  for  the  Presbyterianism  and  Congre 
gationalism  of  America. 

So  far  as  is  apparent,  either  from  the  declarations  or  the  proceedings 
of  the  Reformed  Catholic  missionaries,  extreme  ritualism,  plenitude  of 
apostolic  power,  and  lenient  church  discipline,  constitute,  beyond  the 
teaching  of  the  Bible,  the  panacea  for  the  remaining  unexorcised  heathen 
belief,  for  the  immoralities,  and  the  wasting  decline  of  the  population  of 
the  Sandwich  Islands. 

The  simple  introduction  of  the  Episcopal  form  of  worship  with  the 
teaching  of  what  are  generally  regarded  as  the  great  essential  doctrines 
of  the  Gospel  at  Honolulu,  without  baptismal  regeneration  or  sacramental 
efficacy,  would  probably  produce  but  trifling  differences  among  the  peo 
ple  ;  but  the  introduction  of  the  teaching  of  peculiar  doctrines  connected 
with  extreme  ritualism,  and  "  plenary  apostolic  power,*'  especially  bap 
tismal  regeneration,  appears  to  me,  and  perhaps  to  many  others  besides, 
more  likely  to  do  harm  than  good  ;  and  I  proceed  to  show  my  reasons 
for  this  opinion. 

The  first  and  most  disastrous  is,  the  tendency  of  this  teaching  an  I 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  55 

these  practices  to  loosen  and  unsettle  the  foundations  of  all  religious  be 
lief  among  the  people.  The  faith  of  the  Hawaiians  is  built  simply  and 
solely  upon  the  Bible — the  Word  of  God,  as  declared  or  contained  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  That  is  believed  by  them  to  be  as  the  great  teacher 
of  the  Gentiles  declares  "  able  to  make  wise  unto  salvation,  through 
faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."* 

Now  Bishop  Staley  tells  the  Hawaiians,  in  his  first  sermon,  that  the 
worship  of  his  Church  is  regulated  by  Holy  Scripture,  "  as  it  has  been 
interpreted  by  the  ancient  Fathers  ;  "  and  further  he  affirms,  if  the  state 
ment  already  cited  be  correct,  that  the  Hawaiians  do  not  possess  that 
"  historical  and  common  information  which  alone  can  render  its  perusal 
profitable  or  even  safe."  Here  the  utterance  of  Holy  Scripture,  given 
by  the  inspiration  of  God,  and  the  words  of  the  Bishop  of  Honolulu,  are 
directly  opposed  to  each  other.  The  apostle  Paul,  writing,  under  Di 
vine  inspiration,  to  Timothy,  declares  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  are 
"  able  to  make  wise  unto  salvation."  The  Bishop  affirms  that  the  addi 
tion  of  "  historical  and  common  information  can  alone  render  their  pe 
rusal  profitable  or  even  safe."  This  virtual  denial  of  the  sufficiency  of 
Scripture  to  make  wise  unto  salvation,  cannot  but  unsettle  the  founda 
tions  of  Hawaiian  faith,  especially  if  we  consider  the  deficiencies  of 
which  the  Bishop  complains  in  the  teaching  previously  given  to  aid  them 
in  their  understanding  of  the  Bible  ;  for  he  says,  "  no  attempt  seems  to 
have  been  made  to  teach  them  how  to  distinguish  the  human  from  the 
Divine,  in  the  inspired  volume." 

In  the  present  condition  of  the  Hawaiians,  so  recently  emerged  from 
barbarism,  so  morally  and  intellectually  immature  and  feeble,  having 
already  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  the  .Romanists,  who  are  active 
and  untiring  in  their  efforts  to  undermine  this  faith,  their  position  is  suf 
ficiently  critical.  To  introduce  now  any  doubt  respecting  the  sufficiency 
of  Scripture  alone,  to  teach  all  things  necessary  to  salvation,  would  be 
like  putting  a  mischievous  weapon  into  the  hands  of  the  Romanist  teach 
ers,  with  which  to  defend  their  dogma  of  papal  infallibility  and  author 
ity,  as  alone  able,  and  at  the  same  time  necessary,  to  decide  all  such 
questions.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  very  complaint  that  the  Ha 
waiians  have  not  been  taught  how  to  distinguish  the  Human  from  the 
Divine  in  the  Bible  will,  in  the  opinion  of  all  who  reflect  on  the  tendency 

*  2  Tim.  iii.  15. 


56  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

of  such  speculations,  among  a  community  like  the  Hawaiians,  appear  to 
be  a  strong  reason  why  the  American  missionaries  should  not  be  inter- 
fered  with,  much  less  supplanted,  by  those  who  would  impart  such  teach 
ing. 

The  great  difference  between  the  foundation  of  faith,  as  presented  by 
the  Bible,  and  the  teaching  set  forth  by  Bishop  Staley,  in  relation  to 
both  Sacraments — viz.,  regeneration  by  Baptism,  and  the  Sacramental 
Grace  connected  with  the  Lord's  Supper — and  to  some  of  the  great  doc 
trines  of  salvation,  cannot  but  tend  to  lower  the  estimation  in  which  the 
people  now  hold  Divine  revelation,  and  to  disturb  and  weaken  their 
newly  implanted  faith,  which  rests  on  the  Word  of  God  alone. 

I  pronounce  no  opinion  on  the  ritualism  which  characterizes  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  Reformed  Catholic  Mission ;  but  feel  it  my  duty  to  state 
that,  so  far  as  I  have  observed  or  heard,  all  such  appeals  to  the  eye  and 
to  the  senses,  in  such  a  state  of  society,  produce  impressions  unfavora 
ble  to  the  growth  of  religion  in  the  heart.  The  minds  of  people  in  a 
state  corresponding  with  that  of  the  Hawaiians,  cannot  perceive  the  spir 
itual  meaning  of  such  accompaniments  of  Christian  worship ;  their  minds 
are  not  refined  or  advanced  sufficiently  to  appreciate  their  aesthetic  in 
fluence,  or  understand  anything  beyond  the  appeals  thus  made  to  their 
senses.  These  additions  may  gratify  their  love  of  novelty  and  ornament, 
but  they  do  not  associate  them  with  that  spiritual  reality  and  power  over 
the  heart  and  conscience,  which  they  are  accustomed  to  regard  as  be 
longing  to  the  Word  of  God. 

Acoompaniments  of  this  kind  they  invariably  associate  with  their  aban 
doned  heathen  worship,  or  the  services  connected  with  their  idols,  which, 
attended  by  peculiarly  robed  priests,  were  carried  in  processions,  and 
whose  worship  was  associated  with  gesticulations,  bowings,  prostrations, 
and  silent  mysterious  movements.  This  has  been,  and  is,  the  impres 
sion  produced  on  the  people  of  Tahiti,  of  Hawaii,  and  Madagascar,  by 
the  ceremonies  of  papal  worship.  They  all  said  it  was  another  kind  of 
idol  worship,  resembling  their  own.  At  Hawaii,  when  the  American 
missionaries  pleaded  with  the  rulers  to  treat  gently  the  first  Catholic 
priests,  the  chiefs  answered  :  "  What  have  we  abolished  idols  for,  if  we 
are  to  allow  that  worship  to  be  established  here  ? " 

I  pronounce  no  opinion  on  the  effect  of  extreme  ritualism  in  more  re 
fined  and  cultivated  communities  who  may  be  able  to  see  a  meaning  and 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSION^.  57 

find  a  pleasure  in  such  services  ;  but  among  the  Sandwich  Islanders, 
these  ceremonies  are,  in  my  most  mature  opinion,  likely  to  produce  more 
evil  than  good.  They  will  tend  to  draw  away  the  too  easily  diverted 
attention  of  the  people  from  the  spiritual  engagements  of  religious  wor 
ship,  for  "  God  is  a  Spirit,"  and  His  worship  should  be  "  in  spirit  and 
in  truth  ; "  to  diminish  the  power  of  Divine  truth  on  their  consciences; 
and  to  intercept  those  direct  and  Divine  communications  to  the  soul, 
which  Christians  have  ever  found  so  enlightening  to  their  understand 
ing,  so  strengthening  to  their  faith,  and  so  cheering  to  their  souls. 

I  must  add  that  I  am  unable  to  conceive  of  any  way  in  which  the 
teaching  or  ritualism  of  the  Reformed  Catholic  missionaries  can  dimin 
ish  the  immorality  which  the  labors  and  influence  and  sufferings  of  the 
American  Mission  have  been  unable  altogether  to  prevent.  If  the  scrip 
tural  declaration  of  the  consequences  of  sin,  of  the  efficacy  of  the  blood 
of  Christ  to  cleanse  from  all  sin,  of  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  re 
generate  the  heart,  of  the  willingness  of  our  blessed  Lord  to  receive  all 
who  come  to  Him,  and  the  hope  of  eternal  life  which  Holy  Scripture  un 
folds  to  all  who  give  evidence  of  the  sincerity  of  their  faith  by  an  active 
holy  life,  be  insufficient  to  enable  the  soul  to  turn  from  easily-besetting 
sin  unto  holiness  and  God,  I  cannot  conceive  how  any  ritualistic  addi 
tions  of  candles  and  vestments  and  flowers,  &c.,  or  the  interpretations 
of  the  ancient  Fathers  added  to  the  inspired  writings  should  accomplish 
this,  or  tend  to  save  the  remnant  of  the  people  from  destruction.  It  is 
the  "  word  of  God,"  which  is  "  the  sword  of  the  Spirit."*  It  is  "  the 
fear  of  the  Lord  "  that  "  tendeth  to  life."t 

I  have  never,  since  I  left  them,  lost  my  interest  in  the  religious  pro 
gress  of  the  Sandwich  Islanders.  I  am  still  deeply  concerned  for  their 
spiritual  welfare.  I  have  examined,  with  all  the  attention  I  have  been 
able  to  give,  the  means  proposed  by  the  new  Mission  for  removing  the 
causes  of  regret  and  sorrow  which  to  some  extent  are  admitted  to  exist; 
and  I  am  compelled  to  conclude,  for  the  reasons  above  stated,  that  the 
remedies  proposed  are  not  calculated  to  diminish  the  existing  evils,  or 
to  effect  greater  good  than  has  been  accomplished  by  the  simpler  and 
more  scriptural  teaching  of  the  American  missionaries. 

*  Ephes.  vi.  17.  j  Frov.  xix.  23. 

8 


58  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

A  DIVINE  LAW  OF  CHRIST  DISREGARDED. 

The  Sandwich  Islands  as  a  field  for  missionary  labor  remained  unoc 
cupied  by  any  other  Christian  teachers  at  the  time  when  the  American 
Society  commenced  its  work  there.  That  work  it  has  continued  for 
nearly  fifty  years,  in  the  course  of  which  it  has  sent  out  forty  clerical 
missionaries,  six  physicians,  twenty  lay  brethren,  besides  the  wives  of 
the  missionaries  and  other  female  assistants.  On  that  field  it  has  ex 
pended  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  its  resources.  The 
great  Head  of  the  Church  has  already  granted  to  its  efforts  encouraging 
success,  with  a  prospect  of  still  more  satisfactory  results.  To  the  field 
thus  effectively  occupied,  the  projectors  of  the  new  Mission,  instead  of 
meeting  an  acknowledged  want  by  sending,  in  compliance  with  the  re 
quest  of  members  of  their  own  communion,  a  clergyman  to  "  break  to 
them  the  bread  of  life,"  have  sent  forth  a  Bishop  with  three  clergymen. 
and  propose  to  send  three  more.  In  thus  intruding  themselves  upon  a 
field  on  which  the  American  Society  had  bestowed  such  ample,  success 
ful,  and  persevering  labor,  the  Reformed  Catholic  Mission  seem  to  have 
acted  in  utter  forgetfulness,  or  else  in  entire  disregard,  of  the  just  and 
equitable  law  of  Christ,  which  enjoins  on  all  Christians  to  "  do  unto 
others  as  they  would  that  others  should  do  unto  them/' 

Had  the  American  Missionary  Society  entered  in  a  similar  manner  a 
field  which  the  projectors  of  the  new  Mission  had  occupied  with  equal 
benefit  to  the  people  for  forty  years,  every  Protestant  community  in 
Christendom  would  have  cried  out  against  the  violation  of  the  explicit 
command  of  Christ,  and,  as  it  would  appear  to  them,  against  the  mani 
festation  of  that  want  of  unity  or  oneness  with  other  Christians  which 
our  Lord  himself  piayed  might  be  the  proof  of  His  disciples'  union  with 
Himself,  and  the  evidence  to  the  world  that  His  mission  was  Divine.* 

Besides  this,  the  teachings  of  experience,  and  the  results  of  deep  and 
prayerful  reflection,  have  brought  almost  all  Protestants  engaged  in  this 
great  work  to  consider  it  of  the  utmost  importance  to  abstain  from  all 
intrusion  upon  fields  already  occupied  by  other  Protestant  missionaries. 
There  is  no  authoritatively  enjoined  law  on  the  subject ;  but  this  rule 
has  so  entirely  commended  itself  to  the  judgment  and  right  Christian 
feeling  of  all  who  have  been  engaged  in  directing  missionary  efforts  that, 

*  John  xvii.  21. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  59 

with  scarcely  more  than  a  single  exception,  it  has  been  almost  invaria 
bly  acted  upon. 

The  Bishop  of  London  thus  alludes  to  this  law  of  amity  in  his  speech 
at  Wells,  on  the  occasion  of  Queen  Emma's  visit  to  that  city  :  "It  has 
been  urged  that  there  is  a  general  law  of  arnity  in  these  matters  which 
should  prevent  any  missionary  body  from  trespassing  upon  the  fields  of 
labor  of  others — a  law  which  I  fully  recognize,  because  1  feel  that  heath 
enism  is  wide  enough,  and  there  is  room  for  all,  without  interfering  with 
one  another,  to  labor  in  some  different  portion  of  the  field." 

With  the  exception  of  perhaps  one  Society,  all  the  Protestant  mission 
ary  bodies  in  Europe,  and,  so  far  as  I  have  heard,  in  America,  engaged 
in  modern  Missions,  on  entering  new  fields  of  labor,  or  on  occasions  re 
quiring  its  observance,  have  voluntarily  and  unhesitatingly  respected 
this  law  of  amity.  The  following  may  be  regarded  as  instances  of  this: 

In  1824,  when  the  London  Missionary  Society  appointed  a  colleague 
to  join  me  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  secretary  thus  wrote  : — "  In 
coming  to  this  determination,  the  directors  by  no  means  wished  in  the 
Jeast  to  interfere  with  the  arrangements  of  the  American  Society;  and 
it  was  particularly  specified  in  their  resolution  on  the  subject,  that,  pro 
vided  it  should  not  be  perfectly  in  accordance  with  the  sentiments  and 
feelings  of  the  worthy  brethren  of  that  Society,  that  Mr.  Pitman  should 
unite  with  them  and  you  in  the  labors  of  the  Sandwich  Mission,  he 
should,  in  that  case,  avail  himself  of  the  first  opportunity  which  might 
occur  to  proceed  to  some  other  station." 

I  had  been  solicited  by  the  King,  the  chiefs  and  missionaries  to  unite 
with  the  latter ;  but  when  on  my  way  to  England  I  reached  America, 
the  officers  of  the  American  Board  with  whom  1  conferred  appearing  to 
think,  that,  upon  the  whole,  it  would  best  promote  the  spread  of  the  Gos 
pel  in  that  part  of  the  world  if  they  occupied  the  North  Pacific,  and  the 
English  missionaries  the  South,  I  expressed  my  concurrence  in  this  opin 
ion,  reported  the  views  of  the  American  Board  to  the  Directors  in  Lon 
don,  and  the  Mission  to  Hawaii  was  not  resumed  by  that  Society. 

In  the  year  1830,  the  late  Mr.  Williams  and  Mr.  Barff  arranged  with 
the  "Wesleyan  missionaries  at  Tonga,  the  largest  of  the  Friendly  Islands, 
that  the  London  Society  should  direct  its  efforts  to  Samoa  and  the  West 
ern  Islands,  while  the  Wesleyan  Society  should  extend  its  labors  to  Fiji 
in  the  East.  This  arrangement  was  confirmed  by  the  respective  soci 
eties  at  home. 


60  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

Before,  however,  the  missionaries  sent  out  from  England  by  the  former 
Society  reached  Samoa,  two  Wesleyan  missionaries,  having  been  invited 
from  Tonga,  had  proceeded  to  those  islands.  The  Directors  of  the  Lon 
don  Missionary  Society  communicated  the  fact  to  the  Wesleyan  Soci 
ety,  who  at  once  stated  that  the  step  had  been  taken  without  their  knowl 
edge,  and  again  declared  their  intention  to  adhere  to  the  arrangement 
already  made.  In  their  resolution  on  this  subject,  the  Wesleyan  Com 
mittee,  in  December,  1837,  instructed  their  missionaries  to  withdraw, 
assigning  the  following  as  their  reasons  :  "  That  in  the  fear  of  God,  and 
in  obedience  to  those  principles  of  unchangeable  equity  and  fair  dealing, 
and  of  Christian  brotherhood  and  union,  which  ought  to  regulate,  in  such 
cases,  the  conduct  of  kindred  societies  towards  each  other,  they  now  de 
liberately  confirm  and  renew  their  former  decision  on  this  question,  as 
being,  in  their  judgment,  under  all  the  circumstances,  both  right  and  fit 
ting  in  itself,  and,  eventually,  most  likely  to  promote,  on  a  large  and 
general  scale,  the  evangelization  of  the  heathen  population  of  the  Poly 
nesian  Islands,  and  the  peace  and  edification  of  the  infant  churches 
already  established."* 

In  1835,  the  Rev.  C.  T.  E.  Rhenius,  a  Lutheran  clergyman,  and  sev 
eral  of  his  countrymen,  who  had  occupied  important  stations  under  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  in  Tinnevelly,  having,  though  continuing 
their  labors  in  that  Province,  separated  from  the  Church  Society,  pro 
posed  to  unite  themselves  with  the  London  Society,  which  had  long  oc 
cupied  the  adjacent  province  of  Travancore.  The  London  Society,  con 
sidering  the  great  discouragement  and  injury  which  such  a  proceeding 
would  inflict  on  the  operations  of  the  Church  Society,  declined  to  re 
ceive  these  missionaries  while  they  continued  where  they  were,  and  only 
consented  to  accept  their  services  in  any  of  the  stations  remote  /rom 
Tinnevelly  at  which  the  Tamil  language  was  spoken.  One  of  these 
brethren  removed  to  a  distant  station  under  the  care  of  the  London  So 
ciety,  and  the  others,  after  the  death  of  Rhenius,  rejoined  the  Church 
Missionary  Society,  the  pea-ceful  course  of  whose  proceedings  in  that 
important  province  has  not  since  been  disturbed. 

I  have  adduced  these  instances  ta  show  the  value  of  this  voluntarily 
adopted  law  of  amity  in  remedying 'evils  which  have  threatened  mis 
sionary  operations  abroad.  It  has  been  found  to  be  equally  beneficial  at 

*  Records  of  London  Missionary  Society. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  61 

home.  From  the  beginning,  the  directors  of  missionary  effort  have  been 
accustomed  to  consider  as  sacred  the  field  of  labor  occupied  by  others, 
when  selecting  or  enlarging  their  own.  The  advantages  are  so  self-evi 
dent,  the  practice  so  accordant  with  apostolic  precept  and  conduct,  as 
well  as  so  congenial  with  the  experience  of  the  best  fruits  of  the  Spirit,* 
that  the  instances  are  extremely  few  amongst  the  Protestant  communi 
ties,  who  have  engaged  in  foreign  Missions,  in  which  it  has  been  disre 
garded. 

It  was  after  conference  with  the  London  Society  that  the  Scottish 
Society  united  with  the  former,  and  sent  out  its  first  missionaries  to  the 
Foulahs,  in  Western  Africa  ;  that  the  Netherlands  Society  commenced 
its  first  Mission  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  and,  more  recently,  that  the 
Presbyterians  of  Nova  Scotia  commenced  their  Mission  in  the  New 
Hebrides.  It  was  after  conference  and  correspondence  with  the  London 
Society  that  the  Paris  Society  sent  out  its  first  Mission  to  the  Basoutous, 
in  South  Africa ;  and  after  conference  or  correspondence,  most  of  the 
German  modern  Evangelical  Missionary  Societies  have  commenced 
their  labors.  It  was  after  conference  between  the  Bishop  of  Mauritius 
and  myself  on  the  spot,  that  an  engagement  was  entered  into  on  behalf 
of  the  Societies  which  we  represented,  that  the  London  Missionary  So 
ciety  should  continue  to  occupy  the  central  part  of  Madagascar,  and  that 
the  Societies  of  the  Church  of  England  should  commence  their  labors 
among  the  tribes  on  the  coast,  and  gradually  work  towards  the  interior, 
while  we  should  extend  our  efforts  towards  the  coast  until  we  should 
meel.  This  arrangement  was  acquiesced  in  by  the  respective  Societies 
at  home  ;  and  it  was  in  conformity  therewith  that  the  London  Society 
declined  to  strengthen  its  station  at  Tamatave,  which  has  been  occupied 
by  missionaries  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  while 
the  Church  Missionary  Society  selected  its  position  on  the  northern 
coast.  The  American  Missionary  Society  has  also  uniformly  acted  on 
the  system  of  non-interference  with  other  laborers  in  all  the  great  fields 
of  usefulness  upon  which  it  has  entered.  The  instances  are  rare  indeed, 
excepting  in  the  great  centres  of  civilization  or  commerce,  in  which  it  is 
necessary  or  desirable  for  the  agents  of  two  societies  to  occupy  one  field. 

The  officers  of  the  Missionary  Societies,  the  seat  of  whose  operations 
is  in  London,  have  for  many  years  past  been  accustomed  to  meet  monthly 

*  Gal.  v.  22,  23. 


£0  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

for  conference  and  prayer  in  relation  to  their  common  work.  On  these 
occasions,  the  Secretaries  of  the  Church,  the  Moravian,  Wesleyan,  Bap 
tist  and  London  Missionary  Societies  have  often  received  valuable  in 
formation  and  encouragement  from  each  other  at  these  friendly  gather 
ings.  There  is  also  reason  to  believe  that  this  intercourse  has  done 
much  to  extend  and  strengthen  that  broad  catholic  feeling  in  relation  to 
the  efforts  of  all  Protestant  Missions,  which  now  so  generally  and  so 
happily  prevails. 

By  all  those  who  cherish  these  feelings,  the  sending  forth  and  contin 
uing  or  extending  the  new  Mission  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  will  be  re 
garded,  not  only  with  extreme  regret,  but  with  serious  apprehension.  It 
cannot  promote  peace,  brotherly  kindness,  or  charity;  and,  besides  the 
graver  .evils  already  apparent,  it  must  tend  to  stir  up  vexatious  rivalries, 
strife,  and  much  evil  work.  It  is  doing  so  already,  and  so  far  as  the  in 
terests  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  among  men,  and  the  salvation  of  the 
souls  of  the  Hawaiians  are  concerned,  it  holds  out  the  promise  of  no 
compensating  good,  either  to  the  Islanders,  or  to  the  patrons  of  the  Mis 
sion. 

This  scheme,  as  the  Bishop  of  London  stated  at  Wells,  did  not  orig 
inate  with  his  lordship,  nor  with  the  late  venerable  Archbishop  of  Can 
terbury,  but  with  certain  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  when 
the  adherents  of  that  or  of  any  other  church  chose  to  enter  upon  such  a 
course  no  one  questioned  their  perfect  right  to  do  so;  but  the  expediency 
or  advantage  of  such  a  course  may,  nevertheless,  be  extremely  question 
able,  and  when  another  society  has,  with  great  expenditure  of  life  and 
means,  long  cultivated  any  field,  in  the  hope  of  reaping  not  temporal 
benefits,  but  the  satisfaction  and  the  welcome  enjoyment  which  success 
in  winning  souls  for  Christ  affords,  the  invasion  of  this  field,  the  appro 
priation  of  these  fruits,  is  neither  a  position  nor  an  occupation  in  which 
the  best  friends  of  the  Church  of  England,  will  consider  her  children 
either  most  appropriately  or  honorably  employed. 

The  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  world  seems  by  the  events  of  his  Provi 
dence,  to  be  giving  us  India,  and  opening  to  us  China  and  Africa,  as 
well  as  other  parts  of  Asia  ;  to  be  calling  the  varied  sections  of  His 
Church  to  the  great  work  of  turning  the  nations  of  the  earth  from  dumb 
idols  to  serve  the  living  God.  Among  the  bands  of  faithful  men  which 
the  churches  are  sending  forth  to  this  work,  the  venerable  antiquity,  the 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  $3 

exalted  rank,  the  vast  resources,  which  belong  to  the  Church  of  Eng 
land,  and  the  dauntless  courage  which  the  adherents  of  that  Church  have 
inscribed  on  the  page  of  our  nation's  history,  point  out  the  front  ranks, 
the  high  places  of  the  field,  where  the  difficulties  are  the  most  formida 
ble,  and  the  struggle  most  arduous,  as  the  position  which  belongs  to  the 
Church  of  England,  and  which  her  sons  would  most  appropriately  oc 
cupy.  That  Church  neither  does  justice  to  herself,  nor  achieves  all  the 
good  that  she  might  in  the  world,  with  such  wide  and  transcendantly 
glorious  prospects  before  her,  by  using  any  part  of  her  great  resources 
and  influence  in  following  the  march  of  others  who  have  broken  the 
ranks  of  the  enemy,  and  gathering  up  the  spoils  of  a  field  which  they 
have  already  won. 

Not  only  does  the  new  Mission  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  fail  to  en- 
courage  other  laborers  in  the  great  enterprise,  but  its  persistent  continu 
ance  will  seem  to  threaten  with  disappointment  and  injury  all  other  mis 
sionaries  besides. 

If  after  the  labor  and  resources  which,  during  forty  years,  the  Amer 
ican  Society  has  devoted  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  the  gratifying  re 
sults  which,  after  all  needful  deductions,  have  most  certainly  been  at 
tained,  the  simple  circumstance  of  the  King  of  the  country  and  a  few 
members  of  the  English  and  American  Episcopal  Church,  asking  that  a 
clergyman  may  be  sent  out  to  them,  be  deemed  a  sufficient  reason  for 
sending  out  a  Bishop  and  a  Mission  of  several  clergymen  to  be  joined 
by  others  from  America,  not  to  minister  to  the  members  of  their  own  re 
spective  churches,  but  to  spread  themselves  among  the  general  popula 
tion,  for  whose  spiritual  good  the  American  missionaries  have  been  so 
long  laboring,  to  draw  them  away  from  these  teachers  and  their  simple 
faith,  other  Missions  may  expect  similar  treatment.  What  encourage 
ment,  it  may  be  asked,  has  any  missionary  body,  European  or  American, 
to  expect  to  be  allowed  peacefully  and  rightfully  to  reap  the  fruits  of 
their  own  efforts  ?  What  ground  has  any  missionary  body  to  conclude, 
after  long  and  faithful  labor,  that  the  members  of  the  Reformed  Catholic 
Committee,  or  other  persons  who  may  think  their  own  mode  of  worship 
or  its  accompaniments  better  or  likely  to  be  more  agreeable  to  the  people 
than  that  already  introduced,  may  not,  unrestrained  by  any  law  of  am 
ity,  and  disregarding  the  great  and  universal  law  of  Christ,  deem  them 
selves  justified  in  condemning  the  work  already  accomplished  as  pro- 


64  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

ducing  only  a  surface-  religion,  and  sending  forth  their  own  agents  to 
draw  away  the  converts  from  those  who  had  long  watched  for  their  souls, 
to  their  own  creed  and  worship  ? 

The  Bishop  of  London,  with  that  characteristic  benevolence  which 
moves  him  to  look  on  the  most  favorable  side  of  occurrences  connected 
with  the  progress  of  Christianity,  expressed  a  hope  that  the  union  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  America  with  this  Mission  would  prove  an  olive 
branch ;  but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the  reverse  will  be  the  case.  The 
American  Society  is  not  a  circumscribed  association,  extemporized,  as  it 
were,  yesterday,  but  one  of  ^he  earliest,  most  widely  extended,  highly 
esteemed,  and  liberally  supported  organizations  of  the  kind  in  America.* 
The  high  character  of  its  agents,  and  the  benefits  they  have  conferred 
on  different  portions  of  mankind,  are  acknowledged  by  the  friends  of  all 
other  Protestant  Missions.  The  missionaries  in  the  Sandwich  Islands 
are  members  of  that  sacred  brotherhood  which  has  proved  so  efficient  in 
India,  China  and  Western  Asia,  and  whom  the  Turkish  Aid  Society  in 
England,  supported  among  others  by  such  distinguished  philanthropists 
as  Sir  John  Lawrence,  and  the  late  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  has  so  gener 
ously  assisted  in  their  great  and  holy  work. 

The  supporters  of  the  American  Society  all  know  that  during  the 
long  forty  years  that  their  missionaries  prosecuted  their  work  under  many 
difficulties  and  privations,  the  Episcopalians  in  America  manifested  no 
interest  whatever  in  Hawaii,  and  the  invitation  of  the  Reformed  Cath 
olic  Committee  to  the  American  Episcopalians  to  join  them  now  will 
produce  no  good  feeling,  but  the  reverse.  It  will  increase  the  sense  of 
gratuitous  injury  and  wrong  should  the  proceedings  of  these  parties  dam 
age  the  American  Mission  in  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

Disasters,  it  is  to  be  feared,  arising  out  of  this  intrusion,  are  beginning 
to  appear  in  the  Islands ;  changes  are  apprehended  in  the  religious  teach 
ing  in  the  common  schools ;  and  the  increase  of  the  Reformed  Catholic 
missionaries  is  being  regarded  as  a  political  as  well  as  an  ecclesiastical 
invasion.  I  do  not  regard  it  as  such,  but  we  cannot  wonder  that  the 

Americans,  who  form  the  chief  part  of  the  foreign  residents,  should  do  so. 

********** 

*  The  resources  of  this  Society  are  contributed  by  residents  in  the  States  of  the 
Union  known  as  constituting  the  North.  It  is  supported  by  2,840  Congregational 
churches,  containing  269.000  communicants,  and  1,479  New  School  Presbyterian 
churches,  with  143,000  members,  altogether  4,319  churches,  containing  412.000 
communicants.  Its  income  last  year  amounted  to  £111,409,  and  the  number  of 
ordained  missionaries  was  143. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  £5 

T  shall  now  conclude  by  adducing  two  living  witnesses  of  the  fruits  of 
the  labors  of  the  American  missionaries,  to  which  both  England  and 
America  have  borne  indisputable  testimony,  as  my  last  reasons  why  {he 
American  missionaries  should  be  no  further  interfered  with. 

The  following  account  of  a  sermon  preached  at  Christ  Church,  Clap- 
ham,  by  the  Rev.  W.  Hoapili,  was  copied  from  the  London  "  Times  " 
into  a  Sandwich  Island  newspaper  of  November  17th,  1865.  After  no 
ticing  the  ritualism  of  the  service,  the  "Times"  continues  :  "At  the  end 
of  the  Nicene  Creed,  which  was  very  chastely  and  beautifully  sung,  the 
Rev.  W.  Hoapili  ascended  the  pulpit,  wearing  his  surplice,  with  his 
stole  crossed  over  his  left  shoulder,  indicating  that  he  had  not  yet  ad 
vanced  beyond  deacon's  orders  in  the  Church.  He  is  a  tall,  dark,  hand 
some  young  man,  wearing  a  beard  and  moustache,  and  with  so  slight  a 
foreign  accent  that  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  detect  he  was  not  an  Eng 
lishman." 

The  editor  of  the  "  Pacific  Commercial  Advertiser  "  observes  :  "  Our 
object  in  quoting  these  paragraphs  is  merely  to  bring  before  the  minds 
of  our  readers  the  tribute  which  is  therein  paid  to  the  literary  and  edu 
cational  system  of  instruction  of  the  American  missionaries  on.  the  Ha 
waiian  Islands.  We  are  confident  that  the  Rev.  W.  Hoapili  never  went 
one  day  to  any  school  except  to  those  taught  by  or  instituted  by  the 
American  missionaries,  and  yet  the  young  man  speaks  the  English  lan 
guage  so  accurately  that  '  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  detect  that  he  was 
not  an  Englishman.'  Now,  we  are  bold  to  assert  that  there  are  scores — 
ay,  hundreds — of  young  Hawaiians,  as  well;  if  not  better,  educated  than 
Mr.  Hoapili.  Whatever  American  missionaries  may  have  neglected  to 
do,  they  certainly  have  not  neglected  to  give  Hawaiian  youth  such  an 
education  as  the  youth  of  but  few  nations  can  boast.  There  are  undis 
guised  attempts  on  the  part  of  some  to  ignore  these  facts,  and  they  are 
laboring  with  a  zeal  '  worthy  of  a  better  cause  '  to  produce  the  impres 
sion  that  the  American  Mission  at  these  Islands  is  a  failure.  Never 
was  there  a  greater  falsification  of  facts  or  perversion  of  the  truth.  It  is 
morally  wrong  that  such  a  view  should  be  imparted  to  the  history  of 
our  times  and  the  Hawaiian  nation,  and  those  who  attempt  to  do  so  are 
surely  enemies  of  the  nation.  Napoleon,  the  Emperor  of  France,  as 
serts,  in  the  opening  paragraph  to  his  *  History  of  Julius  Csesar,'  that 
'  Historic  truth  ought  to  be  no  less  sacred  than  religion.'  " 
9 


66  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

The  second  instance  of  the  efficiency  of  the  teaching  of  the  American 
missionaries  is  from  a  native  missionary  pastor,  sent  by  the  Hawaiian 
native  church  to  a  distant  heathen  race.  It  is  copied  from  an  American 
journal,  the  "  Christian  Register,'  of  March  3d,  1866.  The  introduction 
was  written  by  an  honorable  and  candid  gentleman,  who  is  a  native  of 
Boston,  but  who  has  spent  twelve  years  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  acting- 
part  of  that  time  as  a  judge.  His  religious  associations  are  not  those  of 
the  missionaries  ;  his  testimony  is  therefore  the  more  reliable,  and  will 
speak  for  itself. 

"In  1853  Matunui,  a  Chief  of  the  Marquesas  or-Nuuhiva  Islands, 
came  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  to  beg  that  Missionaries  might  be  sent 
to  his  native  group.  He  had  heard  of  the  benefits  which  the  Sand 
wich  Islands  had  derived  from  the  introduction  of  civilization  and 
Christianity,  (which  to  his  mind  seem  to  have  been  synonymous,)  and 
he  wished  that  he  and  his  people  might  partake  of  them.  Such  a 
call  could  not  be  disregarded;  those  of  us  who  were  most  skeptical 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  Foreign  Missions  generally,  were  ready  to  say 
God-speed  to  the  little  band  that  went  out  in  answer  to  that  call.  They 
consisted  of  one  white  layman,  unmarried,  and  two  Hawaiian  ministers, 
who  took  their  wives  with  them. 

"  These  native  missionaries  have  remained  at  their  post  until  now. 
Two  years  ago  one  of  them  was  instrumental  in  saving  the  life  of  an 
American — the  mate  of  a  whaleship.  Our  Government  sent  to  him 
some  gifts  in  acknowledgment  of  the  service.  The  following  letter, 
written  by  this  Missionary — Rev.  James  Kekela — on  the  receipt  of 
those  gifts,  was  received  at  Washington  too  late  to  meet  the  eye  of  the 
good  President  to  whom  it  is  addressed.  I  am  sure  its  simple  utter 
ances  would  have  delighted  and  touched  that  warm,  loving  heart.  I 
have  re-translated  it.  The  translation  which  was  received  at  the  State 
Department,  and  which  was  made  in  Honolulu,  is  more  elegant  than 
this,  but  has  sacrificed  the  native  idiom,  and,  in  some  cases,  the  very 
spirit  of  the  original,  to  smoothness  of  expression. 

"  I  commend  the  letter  to  your  readers.  My  translation  fails  of  doing 
full  justice  to  the  original,  yet  I  much  mistake  if  they  will  not  see  in 
its  expressions  of  faith  and  of  love  a  beauty  and  power  that  could  flow 
only  from  a  life  of  entire  consecration  to  God's  service.  This  poor 
Sandwich  Islander,  whose  grand-parents  were  just  such  dark,  benighted 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  67 

cannibals  as  he  is  now  laboring  for,  comes  nearer  in  his  spirit  to  the 
apostolic  writers  than  many  of  our  most  learned  Divines  and  Commen 
tators. 

"  How  admirably  does  this  man's  child-like  story  of  his  own  life,  and 
of  his  love  to  God  and  to  his  neighbor,  refute  those  unworthy  asper 
sions  upon  the  labors  and  success  of  the  American  Missionaries  at  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  which  we  have  so  often  heard.  These  aspersions 
have  not  been  so  often  repeated  here  of  late  as  they  were  formerly,  but 
in  England  we  find  them  uttered  in  various  forms  by  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford  and  others,  who  have  been  striving  to  build  up  a  rival  Mission 
at  those  Islands,  some  of  them  moved,  undoubtedly,  by  their  zeal  for 
their  Church,  others,  as  undoubtedly,  moved  by  a  desire  to-  advance  the 
political  interests  of  Great  Britain  at  the  Islands  at  the  expense  of  those 
of  the  United  States,  with  a  view  to  their  ultimate  occupation  as  a 
British  naval  station.  Who  shall  dare  deny  that  this  man  is  in  the 
true  apostolic  succession  ?  Who  in  this  age  better  than  he  represents 
the  '  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  ? '  E.  P.  BOND." 

[Translated  expressly  for  the  "  Christian  Register.'7] 

"  EIVAOA,  March  27,  1865. 
"  To  A.  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America: 

"  Greetings  to  you,  great  and  good  friend  ! 

"  My  mind  is  stirred  up  to  address  you  in  friendship  by  the  receipt  of 
your  communication  through  your  Minister  resident  in  Honolulu, 
James  McBride. 

"  I  greatly  respect  you  for  holding  converse  with  such  humble  ones. 
Such  you  well  know  us  to  be. 

"  1  am  a  native  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  from  Wai'alua,  Oahu,  born  in 
1824,  and  at  twelve  years  of  age  attended  the  school,  at  Waialua,  of 
Kev.  Mr.  Emerson  ;  and  was  instructed  in  reading,  writing,  and  mental 
arithmetic  and  geography. 

"  In  1888  1  was  entered  at  the  High  School  of  Lahainaluna,  and  was 
under  the  instruction  of  Messrs.  L.  Andrews,  E.  W.  Clark,  S.  Dibble 
and  Alexander.  Not  being  in  advance  of  others,  I  remained  in  the 
school  some  years,  and  in  1843  I  graduated,  and  was  then  invited  and 
desired  by  the  teachers  to  continue  my  studies  in  other  branches,  that 
is,  to  join  a  class  in  theology  under  the  Rev.  S.  Dibble.  He  died  in 
1945,  and  I  and  others  continued  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  under 


68  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

W.  P.  Alexander.  In  1847  I  graduated,  having  been  at  Lahainaluna 
nine  years.  In  that  year,  1847,  I  married  a  girl  from  my  native  place, 
who  had  for  seven  years  attended  a  female  seminary  at  Wailuku,  under 
the  instruction  of  J.  S.  Green,  E.  Bailey  and  Miss  Ogden. 

"In  the  same  year,  1847,  I  and  my  wife  were  called  to  Kahuku,  a 
remote  place  in  Koolau,  on  Oahu,  to  instruct  the  people  there  in  the 
Scriptures  and  other  words  of  wisdom.  I  remained  in  this  work  for 
some  years.  It  was  clear  to  my  wife  and  myself  that  our  lives  were 
not  our  own,  but  belonged  to  the  Lord,  and  therefore  we  covenanted 
with  one  another  that  we  would  be  the  Lord's,  '  His  only,  His  forever.' 
And  from  that  time  forth  we  yielded  ourselves  servants  unto  the  Lord. 
In  1852  certain  American  Missionaries — Dr.  Gulick  and  others — were 
sent  out  on  their  way  to  Micronesia.  1  was  one  of  their  company,  and, 
after  seven  months  absence,  I  returned  with  E.  W.  Clark.  On  my  re 
turn  I  was  employed  in  arousing  the  Hawaiians  to  the  work  of  Foreign 
Missions. 

"  In  1853  there  came  to  our  islands  a  Macedonian  cry  for  Missiona 
ries  to  Nuuhiva,  brought  by  Matunui,  a  Chief  of  Fatuhiva. 

"  The  Missionaries  speedily  laid  hold  upon  me  to  go  to  this  group  of 
islands.  I  did  not  assent  immediately.  I  stopped  to  consider  carefully, 
with  much  prayer  to  God  to  make  clear  to  me  that  this  call  was  from 
God,  and  I  took  counsel  with  my  wife.  It  was  evident  to  us  that  this 
was  a  call  from  God,  therefore  we  consented  to  come  to  these  dark, 
benighted  and  cannibal  islands. 

O 

"  1  had  aged  parents,  and  my  wife  beloved  relatives,  and  we  had  a  lit 
tle  girl  three  years  old.  We  left  them  in  our  native  land.  We  came 
away  to  seek  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of  this  people,  because  our 
hearts  were  full  of  the  Love  of  God.  This  was  the  only  ground  of  our 
coming  hither,  away  from  our  native  land. 

"  In  the  year  1853  we  came  to  these  cannibal  islands,  and  we  dwelt 
first  for  four  years  at  Fatahiva,  and  in  1857  we  removed  to  Hivaoa, 
another  island,  to  do  the  work  of  the  Lord  Jesus;  and  from  that  time 
until  now  we  have  striven  to  do  the  work  of  Jesus  Chrst,  without  re 
gard  for  wealth  or  worldly  pleasure.  We  came  for  the  Lord,  to  seek 
the  salvation  of  men,  and  this  is  our  only  motive  for  remaining  in  this 
dark  land. 

"  When  I  saw  one  of  your  countrymen,  a  citizen  of  your  great  nation. 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS.  69 

ill-treated,  and  about  to  be  baked  and  eaten,  as  a  pig  is  eaten,  I  ran  to 
save  him,  full  of  pity  and  grief  at  the  evil  deed  of  these  benighted  peo 
ple.  I  gave  my  boat  for  the  stranger's  life.  This  boat  came  from 
James  Hunnewell,*  a  gift  of  friendship.  It  became  the  ransom  of  this 
countryman  of  yours,  that  he  might  not  be  eaten  by  the  savages  who 
knew  not  Jehovah.  This  was  Mr.  Whalon,t  and  the  date  January  14, 
1864, 

"As  to  this  friendly  deed  of  mine  in  saving  iVIr.  Whalon,  its  seed 
came  from  your  great  land,  and  was  brought  by  certain  of  your  coun 
trymen,  who  had  received  the  love  of  God.  It  was  planted  in  Hawaii, 
and  I  brought  it  to  plant  in  this  land  and  in  these  dark  regions,  that 
they  might  receive  the  root  of  all  that  is  good  and  true,  which  is  love. 

"  1.  Love  to  Jehovah. 

"2.  Love  to  «self. 

"  3.  Love  to  our  neighbor. 

"  If  a  man  have  a  sufficiency  of  these  three,  he  is  good  and  holy,  like 
his  God,  Jehovah,  in  His  triune  character,  (Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,) 
one-three,  three-one.  If  he  have  two  and  wants  one,  it  is  not  well ; 
and  if  he  have  one  and  wants  two,  this,  indeed,  is  not  well ;  but  if  he 
cherishes  all  three,  rhen  he  is  holy,  indeed,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Bible. 

"  This  is  a  great  thing  for  your  great  nation  to  boast  of  before  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  From  your  great  land  a  most  precious  seed  was 
brought  to  the  land  of  darkness.  It  was  planted  here,  not  by  means  of 
guns,  and  men-of-war,  and  threatenings.  It  was  planted  by  means  of 
the  ignorant,  the  neglected,  the  despised.  Such  was  the  introduction 
of  the  word  of  the  Almighty  God  into  this  group  of  Nuuhiva.  Great 
is  my  debt  to  Americans,  who  have  taught  me  all  things  pertaining  to 
this  life,  and  to  that  which  is  to  come. 

"  How  shall  I  repay  your  great  kindness  to  me  ?  Thus  David  asked 
of  Jehovah,  and  thus  I  ask  of  you,  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
This  is  my  only  payment — that  which  I  have  received  of  the  Lord — 
love  (aloha.} 

*  1  had  frequent  personal  intercourse  with  this  gentleman,  who  was  engaged  in 
mercantile  pursuits  when  I  resided  at  Oahu.   He  was  an  honorable  Christian  man, 
and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  find  that  he  is  still,  as  of  oldrencouraging  the  laborers  in 
this  distant  Mission  field. 
The  seaman. 


70  THE  SANDWICH  ISLAND  MISSIONS. 

"  I  and  my  wife.  Naomi,  have  five  children,  the  first  with  Miss  Og- 
den,  the  second  with  Kev.  J.  S.  Emerson;  we  now  send  the  third  to  live 
with  Rev.  L.  H.  Gulick;  the  fourth  is  with  Kauwealoha,  my  fellow- 
Missionary,  and  the  fifth  is  with  us  at  present.  Another  stranger  is 
soon  expected.  There  is  heaviness  in  thus  having  to  scatter  the  chil 
dren  where  they  can  be  well  taken  care  of. 

"  We  have  received  your  gifts  of  friendship  according  to  your  instruc 
tions  to  your  Minister,  James  McBride.  Ah !  I  greatly  honor  your  in 
terest  in  this  countryman  of  yours.  It  is,  indeed,  in  keeping  with  all  I 
have  known  of  your  acts  as  President  of  the  United  States. 

"  A  clear  witness  this  in  all  lands  of  your  love  for  those  whose  deeds- 
are  love,  as  saith  the  Scripture,  '  Thou  shalt  love  Jehovah,  and  shall 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.' 

"  And  so  may  the  love  of  the  Lord  Jesus  abound  with  you  until  the 
end  of  this  terrible  war  in  your  land. 

"I  am,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 
[Signed]  "  JAMES  KEKELA." 

With  this  simple,  ingenuous  and  truthful  testimony  to  the  ability  and 
faithfulness  with  which  the  American  missionaries  have  discharged  their 
high  and  sacred  duties  to  the  Sandwich  Islanders,  I  close  my  vindication 
of  their  characters  and  labors,  and  express  my  most  earnest  hope,  as  re 
spectfully  suggested  by  the  American  Board,  in  their  letter  to  the  Ven 
erable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  in  November,  1864, 
that  "  upon  a  reconsideration  of  the  case,  in  view  of  the  facts  now  pre 
sented,"  that  Society  "will  think  it  proper  to  withdraw  from  interfer 
ence  with  our  labors  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  which  have  been  so  sig 
nally  blessed  of  God." 

I  also  appeal  most  respectfully,  sincerely  and  earnestly,  as  an  English 
man,  as  an  English  missionary,  not  to  the  members  of  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  only,  but  to  the  promoters  of  the  new  Mis 
sion,  carefully  to  reconsider  whether  it  would  not.  be  far  better  for  the 
interests  of  peace  and  of  religion  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  tend  more 
to  the  Christian  enlightenment  of  the  heathen  world,  of  which  so  large  a 
portion  still  remains  destitute  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  for  them 
to  make  every  needful  provision  for  the  wants  of  the  members  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  Honolulu,  and,  in  all  beyond  that,  to  leave  the 
American  missionaries  to  carry  forward  their  own  work  without  further 
interruption. 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  A. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  FOREIGN  AFFAIRS,  CITY  OF  HONOLULU,  7 

March  13th,  1860.      J 

SIR  : — I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  to  you  a  sealed  letter  from  the  Rev. 
Richard  Armstrong,  D.D.,  President  of  the  Board  of  Public  Instruction, 
which,  he  informs  me,  is  on  the  subject  of  the  establishment,  in  this  cap 
ital,  of  an  Episcopal  Church. 

Their  Majesties  the  King  and  Queen  prefer  that  form  of  worship,  and 
were  married  according  to  the  rites  of  the  English  Episcopal  Church. 

The  King  himself,  taking  all  the  interest  in  the  education,  morals  and 
religion  of  his  people  which  becomes  him  as  Sovereign,  believes  that  an 
Episcopal  Church  here,  besides  supplying  a  want  long  felt  by  many  Brit 
ish  and  American  families,  would  operate  beneficially  in  narrowing  the 
existing  broad  antagonism  of  the  Calvinistic  and  Catholic  creeds,  and 
thereby  promote  that  brotherly  feeling  between  the  clergy  of  both  that 
so  well  becomes  the  followers  of  the  same  Lord. 

By  orders  of  his  Majesty,  I  have  written  fully  upon  this  subject  to 
Manly  Hopkins,  Esq.,  of  4,  Royal  Exchange  Buildings,  who  is  the 
King's  Charge  d'AfFaires  and  Consul-General  in  London.  If  you  honor 
him  with  a  call,  he  will  communicate  to  you  what  farther  information 
you  may  desire.  Bfe&Cfoft  Library 

In  the  undersigned  you  may  not  recognize  an  old  acquaintance. 
While  on  shore,  on  the  10th  of  May,  1824,  (I  being  then  on  rny  voyage 
to  Calcutta  in  my  yacht,  the  "  Daule,")  I  had  the  honor  to  be  introduced 
to  you  and  to  your  good  lady  by  Mr.  Crocker,  then  acting  as  Consul  of  - 
the  United  States ;  and,  favored  with  your  company,  I  visited  a  native 
school,  and  heard  the  scholars  repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  Hawaiian 
language.  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Rev.  Sir, 
Your  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

R.  C.  WYLLIE. 
Rev.  William  Ellis. 


72  APPENDIX. 

HONOLULU,  SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ) 
February  29th,  1860.       j 

DEAR  SIR  : — Having  been  a  resident  of  this  place  many  years  ago, 
your  name  being  yet  fresh  in  the  recollection  of  many  here,  both  native 
and  foreign,  you  will  be  prepared  to  appreciate  the  object  of  {his  letter, 
and  I  will  therefore  make  no  apology  for  addressing  it  to  you. 

Besides  the  two  large  native  churches  we  have  here,  two  of  the  Con 
gregational  order  (one  of  them  in  connection  with  the  Seaman's  Chapel, 
and  one  Methodist,  neither  of  them  large  ;  for  our  foreign  population  is 
small,  except  in  the  whaling  season,  when  foreign  ships  resort  to  our 
ports,)  there  are  quite  a  number  of  persons  here,  and  a  few  families,  who 
are  either  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  or  partial  to  that  Church, 
and  they  have  long  been  desirous  to  secure  the  services  of  an  Episcopal 
minister  to  break  to  them  the  bread  of  life.  Several  months  ago  the 
King,  who  takes  much  interest  in  the  subject,  directed  his  Minister  of 
Foreign  Relations,  R.  C.  Wyllie,  a  gentleman  from  Scotland,  who  also 
feels  great  interest  in  the  matter,  to  write  to  Manly  Hopkins,  Esq.,  H. 
H.  M.'s  Charge  d'Affaires  in  London,  authorizing  him  to  guarantee  to 
a  suitable  clergyman  of  the  Episcopalian  Church  who  may  come  to 
Honolulu,  and  labor  for  the  spiritual  good  of  its  population,  an  annual 
salary  of  one  thousand  dollars,  hoping  that  a  full  salary  might  be  made 
up  for  him  by  this,  and  what  might  be  contributed  for  the  object  in  Eng 
land.  Less  than  txvo  thousand  dollars  would  be  insufficient.  And 
should  the  right  man  be  obtained,  he  will  have  no  difficulty  in  raising 
this  amount  here.  The  King  has  offered  a  lot  of  ground  as  a  site  for 
an  Episcopal  Church,  and  there  will,  I  think,  be  no  difficulty  in  raising 
means  here  to  erect  one  upon  it. 

How  to  obtain  just  the  right  man  is  a  question  of  great  interest,  not 
only  to  those  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  but  to  all  who  love  Zion  here  ; 
and  here  is  just  the  reason  for  the  liberty  I  have  taken  in  addressing  you 
now.  You  have  lived  here,  have  associated  with  American  missiona 
ries,  (of  whom  I  was  one  for  sixteen  years,  and  for  eleven  years  I  have 
been  honored  with  the  charge  of  the  department  of  Public  Instruction,) 
and  you  would  know  at  once  what  kind  of  a  man  would  be  calculated 
to  do  good  here.  I  may  add,  also,  that  I  address  you  at  the  request  of 
several  Episcopalians,  who  are  among  our  best  people.  They  want  a 
man  of  Evangelical  sentiments,  of  respectable  talents,  and  most  exem 
plary  Christian  life. 


APPENDIX.  73 

We  are  now  enjoying  for  a  few  days  the  society  of  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Garrett  and  Low,  Episcopal  clergymen  from  England,  bound  to  British 
Columbia.  With  Mr.  Garrett  our  people  are  greatly  pleased,  and  would 
be  glad  to  have  him  settled  here,  but  he  is  under  engagement  to  go  on ; 
and  he  strongly  recommends  a  friend  of  his. 

Would  you  be  so  kind  as  to  inquire  about  this  gentleman,  and  if  sat 
isfied  of  his  qualifications,  recommend  him  to  the  Bishop  of  London, 
and  also  to  Manly  Hopkins,  Esq.  Mr.  Garrett  thinks  he  would  come, 
and  is  just  the  man.  But,  if  not,  could  you  see  the  Bishop  of  London 
on  the  subject,  both  in  regard  to  a  suitable  man,  and  a  portion  of  his 
support ;  though  I  think,  if  acceptable,  he  will  very  soon  get  his  entire 
support  here. 

Not  knowing  your  address,  I  will  take  the  liberty  to  enclose  this 
through  my  good  friend  Dr.  Anderson,  of  Boston. 

With  sentiments  of  esteem  and  Christian  regard, 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

R.  ARMSTRONG. 
Rev.  William  Ellis. 

P.  S. — On  reflection,  1  conclude  to  send  this  open  through  Mr.  Wyl- 
lie,  who  will  enclose  it  officially. 
10 


74  APPENDIX. 


The  following  admirable  review  of  this  pamphlet  from  the  London 
"  Record  "  of  April  25th,  is  inserted  in  this  edition,  though  not  in  the 
original : 

THE  HAWAIIAN   REFORMED   CATHOLIC  MISSION. 

We  have  had  occasion  to  refer  more  than  once  to  the  proceedings  of 
"  the  Reformed  Catholic  Mission  at  Honolulu,"  and  of  Bishop  Staley, 
who  is  at  the  head  of  it.  We  have  strongly  protested  against  this  in 
trusion  of  members  of  our  own  church  into  a  missionary  sphere  already 
occupied  by  another  body  of  Christians,  as  an  act  at  once  unjust,  un- 
courteous  and  unwise,  as  directly  violating  the  mutual  understanding 
on  which  the  various  sections  of  the  church  of  Christ  have  hitherto  con 
ducted  their  missions,  and  contradicting  alike  apostolic  precept  and  apos 
tolic  practice.  It  has  been  shown  by  us  that  the  Church  of  England 
has  ever  recognized  the  various  Reformed  churches  as  being  true  churches 
of  Christ,  and  worthy  compeers  with  herself  in  the  great  work  of  evan 
gelizing  the  world.  We  had,  however,  at  that  time,  no  conception  that 
the  case  was  so  bad  as  it  turns  out  to  be.  A  pamphlet  on  this  subject 
has  just  been  issued  by  the  Rev.  W.  Ellis,  well  known  in  connection 
with  Madagascar,  and  formerly  a  missionary  in  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
and  therefore  possessing  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the  character  and 
circumstances  of  ihe  inhabitants.  The  high  character  of  Mr.  Ellis, 
united  with  his  personal  acquaintance  with  the  facts,  invest  his  defense 
of  the  American  Missions  and  his  grave  charges  against  the  originators 
of  the  Reformed  Catholic  Mission  with  equal  authority  and  importance. 
It  is  scarcely  possible  that  so  well-furnished  an  author  should  be  found 
tripping.  Indeed  every  statement  he  makes  is  accompanied  with  evi 
dence,  and  he  writes  moreover  with  a  moderation  of  tone  and  spirit  cal 
culated  to  show  that  he  is  no  heated  and  reckless  partisan.  And  yet, 
unless  his  statements  can  be  disproved  or  in  some  way  rebutted,  it  will 
be  impossible  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  this  Reformed  Catholic  Mis 
sion,  whatever  the  name  may  mean,  is  one  of  the  grossest  delusions 
ever  palmed  upon  Christian  men. 

The  establishment  of  the  Episcopal  Mission  at  Honolulu  was  warmly 


APPENDIX.  75 

advocated  by  some  high  churchmen  on  grounds  apparently  equally  con 
clusive  to  the  reason  and  touching  to  the  sympathies.  "A  sort  of  his 
toric  and  chivalrous  charm  was  imparted  to  the  enterprise  by  represent 
ing  the  non-compliance  of  the  Government  of  England  with  a  series  of 
applications  made  by  successive  sovereigns  of  Hawaii  as  so  many  wrongs 
inflicted  on  the  people  which  the  Church  of  England  is  now  called  upon 
to  redress/'  Twenty  years  after  Captain  Cook's  visit,  Vancouver  brought 
religious  truth  before  the  mind  of  Kamehameha  I.,  and  promised  him 
teachers  from  England.  The  fulfillment  of  this  promise  was  pathetically 
urged  by  the  King,  but  urged  in  vain.  Thirty  years  later  a  similar  ap 
plication  was  made  by  Kamehameha  II.  and  again  refused,  although 
the  King  visited  England  in  person  to  press  the  application  and  to  "take 
back  with  him  an  English  Church  establishment."  The  Hawaiians  still 
continued  to  look  "  with  an  eager  eye  for  the  church  of  the  future  to  be 
sent  to  them  from  England." 

In  1857  the  old  desire  again  broke  out  in  a  request  addressed  by  Ka 
mehameha  IV.  to  the  Queen  of  England  and  the  Archbishop  of  Canter 
bury  that  "  a  Mission  of  the  Church  of  England  should  be  sent  out  to 
Honolulu."  Nothing  less  than  a  bishop  and  six  clergymen  would  suf 
fice  to  meet  the  wants  of  a  population  of  68,000  souls,  of  whom  20,000 
only  were  professing  Protestants  and  25,000  unconnected  with  any 
creed.  All  that  had  before  been  done  for  this  people  had  been  done  by 
"American  Puritans,"  who  had  inflicted  on  a  people  addicted  to  gaiety 
and  spending  much  of  their  life  in  the  innocent  recreation  of  the  dance, 
the  restrictions  natural  to  "  descendants  of  the  stern  old  Puritans  of  New 
England,  if  anything  rather  more  severe,  sour  and  vinegar-like."  These 
people  had  so  grossly  mismanaged  their  Missions  that  they  "made  hypo 
crites  as  fast  as  they  made  proselytes,"  producing  "  a  superficial  Chris 
tianity  thinly  veiling  a  heathen  faith  and  heathen  practices."  They 
made  the  mistake  of  "  introducing  themselves  into  the  secular  offices  of 
the  Kingdom,"  and  were  so  utterly  powerless  even  to  arrest  the  progress 
of  heathen  profligacy  that  "  immorality  in  Hawaii  is  ten  times  greater 
now  than  when  the  people  were  heathen."  Under  such  circumstances 
it  is  no  wonder  that  "  the  people  are  craving  for  your  teachers,  that  they 
are  wearied  out  by  the  mismanagement  of  the  American  Puritians." 
Hence,  lastly,  the  appeal— shall  all  this  be  in  vain,  and  will  not  English 
Christians  throw  light  on  their  Hawaiian  darkness  by  establishing  among 


76  APPENDIX. 

them  the  Reformed  Catholic  Mission  and  erecting  a  new  cathedral  at 
Honolulu,  that  neglected  place,  where  among  a  population  of  14,000 
souls  there  are  only  two  churches,  capable  of  containing  2,500  persons, 
two  chapels  and  a  Roman  Catholic  cathedral  to  boot  ? 

Such  is  the  statement  put  forth  by  those  high  churchmen  who  unlike 
the  great  Apostle,  desired  "  to  enter  into  other  men's  labors."  It  con 
tains,  as  we  have  put  it,  fourteen  direct  statements  of  matters  of  fact ; 
and  if  these  statements  were  true,  some  ground  for  a  new  Mission  would 
undoubtedly  have  existed.  What  will  our  readers  think  when  we  tell 
them  that  Mr.  Ellis  adduces  strong  grounds  to  show  that  every  one  of 
these  fourteen  statements  is,  without  exception,  simply  and  absolutely 
untrue !  We  do  not  profess  to  "discuss  the  details.  We  only  call  atten 
tion  to  the  results,  unless  the  contents  of  the  pamphlet  can  be  disproved. 
But  we  cannot  refrain  from  the  strong  indignation  at  the  unseemly, 
gross  and  scandalous  manner  in  which  the  American  missionaries,  than 
whom,  as  a  class,  no  more  devoted  body  of  men  exists,  have  been  libel- 
lously  attacked  alike  by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  by  Bishop  Staley. 

Of  this  gentleman's  opinions  and  modes  of  proceeding  our  columns 
have  contained  illustrations  on  former  occasions.  Judging  from  the  facts 
stated  in  Mr.  Ellis's  pamphlet,  and  supposing  them  to  be  true,  he  ap 
pears  to  be  a  theological  hybrid,  of  a  species  unhappily  not  unknown  in 
these  later  days,  combining  the  narrowest  bigotry  of  extreme  high  church- 
ism  with  the  doctrinal  laxity  of  the  school  of  Bishop  Colenso.  By  vir 
tue  of  the  one-half  of  this  theological  compound,  he  appears  to  teach  the 
co-ordinate  authority  of  tradition  with  Scripture,  baptismal  regeneration 
and  sacramental  grace  in  connection  with  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  to 
give  expression  to  his  views  in  that  "  language  of  dogma,"  Anglican 
ritualism.  By  virtue  of  his  other  half,  not  once  he  calls  into  question 
the  inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture,  distinguishing  what  is  human  in 
Scripture  from  what  is  Divine,  (not,  it  will  be  observed,  combining  the 
two  elements  in  one  revelation,  but  dividing  the  one  revelation  into  two 
parts,)  "  eternal  principles  from  what  is  temporary  and  incidental."  We 
transcribe  the  whole  passage  in  the  Bishop's  own  words  :  "  They  (the 
Hawaiians)  have  anything  but  an  intelligent  acquaintance  with  the  Holy 
Scripture.  Of  its  composite  character,  of  the  times  and  circumstances 
of  the  authors  when  they  wrote  the  various  books,  they  knew  nothing ; 
they  do  not,  in  fact,  possess  that  historical  and  common  information 


APPENDIX.  77 

which  can  alone  render  its  pefusal  profitable  and  even  safe.  No  attempt 
seems  to  have  been  made  to  teach  them  how  to  distinguish  the  human 
from  the  Divine  in  the  Inspired  Volume — eternal  principles  from  what 
is  temporary  and  incidental." 

Every  one  who  reads  the  pamphlet  referred  to  in  this  article  will  feel 
that  explanation  is  loudly  called  for  from  the  friends  of  "  the  Reformed 
Catholic  Mission."  If  the  statements  of  Mr.  Ellis  can  be  rebutted  by 
evidence  on  the  other  side,  let  it  be  done,  but  the  reputation  of  all  par 
ties  concerned  demands  that  it  should  be  done  at  once.  Many  excellent 
and  high-minded  persons  have  been  led  to  support  this  Mission  who  are 
utterly  incapable  of  knowingly  lending  themselves  to  any  unworthy  or 
ungenerous  scheme.  If  Mr.  Ellis  be  right,  these  men  must  have  been 
grossly  deceived.  It  is  due  to  themselves  to  ascertain  the  facts,  and 
vindicate  their  reputation  from  any  share  in  what  appears  little  better 
than  a  delusion.  If  this  is  not  done,  indelible  disgrace  will  rest  on  all 
who  do  not  separate  themselves  at  once  and  for  ever  from  a  movement 
publicly  convicted  of  being  founded  either  on  the  most  culpable  igno 
rance  or  the  grossest  lack  of  truth. 


